Conference focuses on reducing medication errors

A Fraser Coast nursing academic who is researching ways of reducing medication errors in hospitals has presented her research proposal to a national conference in Melbourne.

Julie Harris, from USQ Fraser Coast, said errors in the administration of medication were more common than most people realised, and had the potential to result in death.

But she said it was important to realise that nurses were often under a lot of pressure with heavy workloads, interruptions, sometimes poor communication between health professionals, and having to deal with complicated mathematical calculations for drug measurements.

'Wards are busy places, with numerous admissions and discharges during each shift,' she said.

'My work so far has revealed that nurses are constantly interrupted during medication administration, often by emergency situations. The nurse/patient ratios are often not ideal. Medication storage rooms can be cramped and dimly lit. The writing on labels is sometimes tiny and our tired eyes have trouble deciphering the details.

'But despite all this, nurses do everything humanly possible to avoid errors. And when errors are made the nurse becomes distressed and this can contribute toward them not performing at their best.'

Julie was a speaker and chairperson at the second annual Reducing Medication Errors Conference in Melbourne on October 28-29.
In her speech she presented material from the study she is conducting for her PhD. Her work aims to identify a system that can help reduce the likelihood of medication errors.

'I presented to an audience of doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and the talk was well received,' Julie said. 'I made many contacts with other health professionals who work in the area of reducing medication errors.

'A number of the speakers were presenting activities from the World Health Organisations international agenda and national programs that are currently contributing to patient safety by reducing medication errors. I was invited to chair the second day of proceedings and this concluded with my presentation.

'My work is contributing to the international agenda of patient safety and as a result of attending the conference USQ will be linked with other state and national projects.'

Julie said there were a lot of presenters from Queensland because of the established work in the state.