title: Medication errors in intensive care units: nurses' training needs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe which elements of nurses' knowledge, training, behaviour and attitude can prevent errors in intensive care units during all steps of the administration of intravenous medication.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous questionnaire made up of 43 items was drafted and delivered to a sample of 123 nurses at 2 university hospitals in Rome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the sample (96.7%) stated that topics related to the preparation and administration of intravenous medications were covered during the basic nursing course. Just over 95% of the sample considered it important to improve their knowledge about preparation and administration of intravenous medications; 94.3% said that teaching about the use of intravenous medications should be enhanced during the degree course they attended and 91.1% agreed that specific postgraduate courses should be set up on the use of intravenous drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacological knowledge is a prerequisite for the proper administration of drugs and for the clinical evaluation of the effects on the patient. This knowledge implies the understanding of the theoretical and clinical principles of pharmacology, the ability to contextualise medication management according to the complex and changing needs of patients, and it also includes the appropriate skills of drug administration.
authors.affiliation: Department of public health and infectious diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Simone
authors.affiliation: University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tartaglini
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fiorini
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petriglieri
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plocco
authors.affiliation: Department of biomedicine and prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Muzio
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D064648:Critical Care Nursing; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: drug administration; education and training; intensive care unit; intravenous infusion; medication error; safety