Abstract:

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the experience and opinions of pediatric nurses about drug errors and the use of equivalent drugs. Tool and Method: This study is a identifying study that evaluates the experiences and opinions of pediatric nurses who agree to participate in the research in the province of Izmir on drug errors and the equivalent use of drugs. The sample of the study was made by 111 pediatric nurses working in a University Hospital and a State Hospital between May 2010 and July 2010. The data collection form has been applied to nurses with questions prepared according to the literature on medication errors and the equivalent use of medication. The analysis of the data was analyzed in the SPSS 16.00 program.The findings: the average age of the nurses is 31.2±4. 98.2 percent were women, 64.9 percent were married, 43.4 percent had one child, 56.8 percent were graduates and 51.4 percent were working in the State Hospital. 25.7 percent of nurses that they had a drug error and 46.3 percent that others had a drug error. 10.8 percent of nurses said that they experienced errors as a result of the equivalent drug application.Result: The rate of drug errors in our study is high, to prevent this situation, training programs related to the drug application should be developed, information should be updated, procedures related to the equivalent drug application should be enhanced.

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