title: Implementation and evaluation of the medication management in nursing units of a university hospital by means of a quality improvement cycle.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors: Unidad de Docencia, Investigación y Calidad, Hospital General Universitario José Mª Morales Meseguer, Marqués de los Vélez s/n, 30008 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: mariac.perez11@carm.es.
authors: María del Carmen
authors: Mdel C
authors: Pérez-García
authors: Unidad de Docencia, Investigación y Calidad, Hospital General Universitario José Mª Morales Meseguer, Marqués de los Vélez s/n, 30008 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: victoriano.soria@carm.es.
authors: Victoriano
authors: V
authors: Soria-Aledo
authors: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Espinardo, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: fcollant@um.es.
authors: Francisco
authors: F
authors: Collantes
mesh_terms: D006785:Hospitals, University; D008509:Medication Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009738:Nursing Service, Hospital; D058996:Quality Improvement
keywords: High risk medications; Medication storage; Patient safety; Quality improvement cycle; Resuscitation trolleys