Benefits of Reporting and Analyzing Nursing Students' Near-Miss Medication Incidents
Susan Dennison, Michelle Freeman, Natalie Giannotti, Padma Ravi
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Developing competencies in reporting medication errors and near-miss incidents is a critical component of nursing student education. The benefits of reporting near-miss incidents by nursing students are unknown. PURPOSE: The aim was to analyze nursing students' near-miss incident reports for types of incidents and their contributing factors, assess the effectiveness of current procedures in catching these errors, and offer guidance on curricular improvements for medication administration content. METHOD: This quality improvement project analyzed 3 years of near-miss incidents (N = 236) submitted through the school's incident reporting system. RESULTS: Five incident types accounted for 81.4% of incidents. Factors contributing to most incidents were communication (47.9%), competency and education (44.1%), environmental/human limitations (35.2%), and policies/procedures (29.2%). CONCLUSION: Safety experts emphasize that near-miss reports offer free lessons to prevent future errors. Nursing students' near-miss reporting is beneficial for both students and nursing programs.