In this paper, we report on a research project funded by the Australian College Mental Health Nurses’ and Bristol Myers Squibb Research Grant in 2007. We examined ways in which mental health nurses could correctly identify patients during medication administration that promote medication safety and that are acceptable to both consumers and nurses.
Central to the safe practice of medication administration are the “five rights”- giving the right drug, in the right dose, to the right patient, via the right route, at the right time. In non-psychiatric settings, such as medical and surgical inpatient units, the use of identification aids, such as wristbands, are common. In most Victorian psychiatric inpatient units, however, standardised identification aids are not used. Anecdotally, consumers dislike some methods of patient identification, such as wearing wrist bands, and some nurses perceive consumers' rights are infringed through wearing personal identifiers.
In focus groups, mental health consumers and mental health nurses were invited to discuss their experiences of patient identification during routine psychiatric inpatient medication administration. They were also asked their opinions of, and preferences for, different ways of verifying “right patient” during routine medication administration. In our paper, we will present the findings of a qualitative research project in which we explored the experiences, opinions, and preferences of mental health consumers and mental health nurses towards methods of correctly identifying patients during medication administration.
History
Event
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses. Conference (34th : 2008 : Melbourne, Vic.)
Publisher
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
Location
Melbourne, Vic.
Place of publication
[Melbourne, Vic.]
Start date
2008-10-06
End date
2008-10-10
Language
eng
Publication classification
E3 Extract of paper; E Conference publication
Copyright notice
2008, Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
Title of proceedings
ACMHN 2008 : Mental health nursing - a broad canvas : the art of mental health nursing in the age of technology and science : Annual Conference of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses