From Awareness to Action: Enhancing Medication Safety Culture to Improve Outcomes

The purpose of this project was to evaluate how a culture of medication safety can improve healthcare outcomes. Medication errors persist and remain the leading cause of preventable injury, highlighting the necessity to enhance the culture of medication safety in healthcare. The population for this project included clinical staff within a military healthcare setting. A quantitative survey assessed perceptions of medication safety, confidence levels, and obstacles to error reporting within the organization. The survey results revealed that 28% of clinical staff had not received medication safety training in the past year, 55% were not confident in medication administration, and 25% cited an unclear reporting process as a major barrier to reporting errors. Additionally, 30% indicated increased workload and staffing deficiencies contribute to mistakes. Transitioning from passive awareness to active practice change, evidence-based recommendations included ensuring diverse training modalities, implementing non-punitive reporting systems, engaging leadership, and conducting continuous assessments to ensure long-term success in reducing errors that will enhance patient safety and improve healthcare outcomes.