Assessment of Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice regarding Dealing with High Alert Medications

Abstract

Medications classified as High-Alert Medications (HAMs) are those that, even when taken as prescribed, have a high potential of seriously harming the patient. Incorrect drug dosage, incorrect mode of administration, and improper dosage are the three most frequent causes of death.  Objective: Assess nurse’s knowledge and practice in dealing with high alert medications. Setting: The study was conducted at general medical  and surgical units at Makkah Hospita, Saudi Arabial. Subjects: 167 nurses who were involved in direct patient care and responsible for administering medications. Tools: Two tools were used to elicit the necessary data; nurse’s practice in dealing with HAMs observational check list, and nurse’s knowledge in dealing with HAMs questionnaire. Results: The mean scores and the mean percentage for nurses’ knowledge and practice related to medications as general, insulin, opioids, sedatives and anticoagulants were utilized. It was observed that the mean score for practice related to HAMs in general were (23.02±2.50) and (39.70±4.30) as the mean percentage, and level of the nurses’ practice was satisfactory ≤75% or unsatisfactory ≥70%. Regarding the 5 main items it was observed that practice in general were unsatisfactory (100.0 %).Nurse’s knowledge related to insulin, opioids, sedatives and anticoagulants had a mean score of (10.47±1.57) with a mean percentage of (74.81±11.22). Conclusion: Regarding the administration of high alert drugs, there is a discrepancy between the established guidelines and the knowledge and practice of nurses. The collective level of knowledge among all nurses was inadequate, with many falsehoods in a subtotal area that could result in risky practices and dangerous complication. The practice total score was unsatisfactory. Recommendations: It is highly recommended that a list of high-alert drugs be provided, along with pharmaceutical safety policies and procedures.