Implementation and evaluation of the medication management in nursing units of a university hospital by means of a quality improvement cycle.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: The aim of this study was to improve compliance with protocols for the correct handling and storage of medication, both in medication rooms and on resuscitation trolleys in order to reduce the level of adverse effects on inpatients. BACKGROUND: The most frequent adverse effects in healthcare are due to medication errors. METHODS: Twenty hospital units were studied in 2012. Their medication rooms and resuscitation trolleys share the same medication supply system. Twelve criteria were evaluated and in the first assessment, corrective measures were implemented and criteria were evaluated again. RESULTS: In the first evaluation, the total amount of cases of noncompliance was 153 (65.38%). Seven corrective measures were implemented on the 6 criteria which accumulate 60% of the noncompliance cases. After that, 81 noncompliance cases (34.62%) were obtained. Almost all of evaluated criteria showed an improvement. Nine of the 12 criteria evaluated showed a statistically significant improvement in the second assessment. CONCLUSIONS: A quality improvement cycle is a useful tool to identify safety problems, related to management of medication rooms and resuscitation trolleys of nursing units. It is possible to identify and implement improvement measures without any additional cost.