PREVALENCE AND CAUSES OF MEDICATION ERRORS AMONG NURSES IN A GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

Background: Nurses are the one who are close with patients. Medication administration is a part of the nurses’ responsibility in order to make sure clients get the correct medication as supposed. Medication administration error is a universal health care concern. Objectives: This study was amed to identify the level of knowledge among nurses which contribute to medication errors, to determine the most factors which contribute to medication error among nurses and to identify the relationship between levels of knowledge with all the contributing factors which contribute to medication error among nurses. Method: A cross sectional study design by using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.0 using descriptive statistic and the relationship was tested using Pearson’s Chi square. Result: A total of 48 respondents completed the questionnaire for respond rate 100%. The respondents’ level of knowledge regarding medication was god. More than half of the nurses 54% (n= 26) had medium, 46% (n= 22) high, while none had low scores. The most factor which contribute to medication errors were heavy workload and complicated orders 95.8% (n=46), then follow by percentage new staff 81.2 % (n=39) and personal neglected 66% (n=31).