Factors influencing paediatric nurses' responses to medication administration

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the importance of contextual and policy factors on nurses' judgement about medication administration practice.

Design: A questionnaire survey of responses to a number of factorial vignettes in June 2004. These vignettes considered a combination of seven contextual and policy factors that were thought to influence nurses' judgements relating to medication administration.

Participants: 185 (67% of eligible) clinical paediatric nursing staff returned completed questionnaires.

Setting: A tertiary paediatric hospital in Brisbane, Australia.

Results: Double checking the patient, double checking the drug and checking the legality of the prescription were the three strongest predictors of nurses' actions regarding medication administration.

Conclusions: Policy factors, and not contextual factors, drive nurses' judgement in response to hypothetical scenarios.