Nursing & Healthcare

Cris Renata Grou Volpe is currently teaching at the University of Brasilia -UNB, completed Master of Health Sciences University of Sao Paulo and a PhD in Nursing at the Graduate Nursing Program (UNB). She has experience in nursing, with emphasis on fundamental nursing, medical and gerontology acting on the following topics: nursing in adult health and elderly, medicine, nursing in public health, semiotics/semiotics and nursing process.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the prevalence of errors in medication process and interruptions in the nursing work in medical clinic inpatient units in two public hospitals in the Federal District, Brazil.

Method: Observational, comparative and exploratory quantitative character. Data were collected from Jul’ 2012 to May’ 2014. The sample consisted of health professionals involved in the medication process, is 8 in the Hospital 1 and 18 in the Hospital 2.

Results: In Hospital 1, were observed 484 doses and a total of 865 errors, of which 464 (56.3%) were directly related to work interruptions. In Hospital 2 were observed 415 doses and 583 medication errors, and these, 118 (24.4%) were associated with interruptions.

Conclusions: work interruptions negatively influence the medication process, jeopardizing patient safety. Risk management measures should be implemented in order to reduce sources of interruptions in nursing work and reduce the chance of adverse medication events