Nurse education today
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Nurse education today · Apr 2007
ReviewAddressing medication errors--The role of undergraduate nurse education.
Medication errors are a persistent problem in today's National Health Service (NHS). Many factors contribute to drug incidents occurring, from the initial prescription stage through to administration and arise from both individual and system failures. The literature identifies the multi-disciplinary nature of the problem and highlights the important contribution that nurses make with regards to ensuring medication safety. ⋯ An educational initiative was therefore introduced to address this problem. A "Medication Safety Day" which focused on the causes of medication errors was implemented to highlight how and why drug incidents may occur. This initiative recognises that nurse education should not only ensure adequate theoretical knowledge of pharmacology but should also equip students with an awareness of how many diverse factors may contribute to the occurrence of medication errors.
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Nurse education today · Apr 2007
ReviewClinical risk management and patient safety education for nurses: a critique.
Nurses have a pivotal role to play in clinical risk management (CRM) and promoting patient safety in health care domains. Accordingly, nurses need to be prepared educationally to manage clinical risk effectively when delivering patient care. ⋯ In this paper, a critical discussion is advanced on the question of CRM and safety education for nurses and the need for nurse education in this area to be reviewed and systematically researched as a strategic priority, nationally and internationally. It is a key contention of this paper that without 'good' safety education research it will not be possible to ensure that the educational programs that are being offered to nurses in this area are evidence-based and designed in a manner that will enable nurses to develop the capabilities they need to respond effectively to the multifaceted and complex demands that are inherent in their ethical and professional responsibilities to promote and protect patient safety and quality care in health care domains.