Authors (including presenting author) :
Yeung PS, Lee KM, Lee ST, Shek KK, Tse HW, Li MC, Wong KY
Affiliation :
Department of Surgery, United Christian Hospital
Introduction :
The Medication Safety Workgroup of Department of Surgery in the United Christian Hospital has been dedicated to promoting safe medication practices and enhancing patient safety for years. Many nursing colleagues reported that it is challenging to study the extensive guidelines promptly due to day-to-day heavy workload; and stay updated on surgical-related medication practices which was commonly communicated through word of mouth. Such challenges may lead to improper medication use, and consequently endanger our patients. Therefore, the Workgroup has implemented strategies to further enhance medication safety since 2023.
Objectives :
1.To ensure surgical-related medication practices align with updated guidelines.
2.To improve nurses’ confidence and competency in medication use.
3.To identify potential medication safety risks at ward levels.
Methodology :
There are three main strategies:
1.In-house Rules
To develop In-house Rules for surgical-related medication practices and upload it onto SharePoint for easy access and reference.
2.Medication Safety Ward Round
To conduct three-monthly regular cross-ward rounds to ensure the compliance of safe medication practices and to identify potential medication safety risks at ward levels. Feedback is given to ward staff immediately after round. Also, results are discussed with DOM/WMs for improvement measures if needed.
3.Medication Quiz for Newly Joined Nurses
To arrange a medication quiz for all the newly joined nurses to enhance their medication knowledge and surgical-related medication practices. Prize will be awarded to those who got all the answers correct.
Result & Outcome :
For the In-house Rules, all nurses were satisfied.
For the Medication Safety Ward Round, results have shown that the compliance of medication storage has increased from 25% to 100% from 4Q2023 to 4Q2024. All the remaining items were 100% compliance.
For the Medication Quiz, the median score of the quiz were 15-16 out of 21. There were a few commonly wrong answers, showing that the newly joined nurses were weak at certain medication-related knowledge. They found the quiz can booster their interest in surgical-related medication practice.
All in all, these strategies have served the purposes in enhancing patient safety and foster culture of safe medication practice. It is planned that all the newly joined nurses will take the same medication quiz again a year later, aiming to find out how surgical experience and training affect their knowledge in medication safety.
