title: Medication errors: what hospital reports reveal about staff views.
abstract: Nurses are generally responsible for administering medication to patients and are, therefore, able to monitor or report medication errors. However, nurses can sometimes be responsible for causing errors, so it is important that they understand the consequences of these mistakes and how to prevent them. This article reports the results of a study that analysed the views of nurses, pharmacists and physicians at a Finnish university hospital on the prevention of medication errors. The findings suggest errors can be prevented by improving work environments and allowing healthcare staff, particularly nurses, to concentrate on the task at hand when dealing with medicines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio. marja.harkanen@uef.fi
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Härkänen
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Turunen
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saano
authors.forename: Katri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vehviläinen-Julkunen
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000145:classification / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires