The Punta de Europe Hospital in Algeciras has initiated a pilot experience with which it seeks to improve safety in the preparation and administration of medication. Wear a safety vest with logo when they are working. The initiative has emerged within the Commission on Patient Safety of the Sanitary Management Area of Campo de Gibraltar and aims to prevent nursing staff from suffering interruptions while performing tasks related to drugs.
According to the Board in a note, numerous scientific studies claim that the frequency of interruptions during the administration of drugs is associated with a higher incidence of errors.
In daily practice, some of these interruptions can be the alarm of a nutrition pump. A relative asking about the health of a patient or doubts a partner; that is to say, a series of factors that cut the nurse’s task of preparation and administration and cause that when performing two tasks at the same time increases the risk of committing errors in that nursing intervention.
For this reason, within the Patient Safety Plan of the Sanitary Management Area of the Campo de Gibraltar and more specifically in line with a safe administration of medicines, a physical barrier will be placed to mitigate interruptions in the administration process and with it to diminish the errors in the medication.
Thus, from this week, the nurses of the fourth floor of hospitalization of Internal Medicine and Grammatology will wear reflective vests while they are preparing medication, with a logo on their back in which you can read ‘Do not interrupt me. I am preparing medication.
The objective is that when the health personnel themselves, well patients and family members, identify a professional with said yellow vest, do not interrupt them, in the case of not being able to wait until the end, look for another professional of the plant that attends them. To do this, explanatory posters will be placed on the plant and information about the initiative will be offered, requesting collaboration to be carried out successfully. The practice intended to be extended to the rest of the center in the coming months, once its impact has been assessed.