Current status: Medication errors within the context of safe and high quality health care are one of the most frequently discussed topics of recent years. They are part of the medical process, occur in different forms, affect patients of all ages and decrease the quality of provided health care. Prescriptions of medication in medical documentation have to be clearly legible and include all the required information. Nurses' role within the medicaiton process could be described as an ultimate "safeguard" that can prevent medication errors. Goals: The objectives of this research are to assess nurses' awareness of medication errors, ssess their ability to detect medication errors and find out the level of their knowledge regarding the correct procedures and measures following medication error detection.Methodology: The research was conducted using a qualitative research method. The in-depth interviews with nurses were carried out at a surgical critical care unit at the hospital in Jindrichuv Hradec. Following the collection of a sufficient amount of data the interviews were coded using the "pen and pencil" technique and then divided into categories.Research file: In order to achieve the highest level of objectivity the research was carried out with a group of nurses who work at the same unit of a hospital department. The research file included nurses who had varied levels of education and numbers of years of experience. Results: Surgical critical care unit nurses are not aware of the exact definition of medication errors. Only one nurse was able to discuss adverse events with related consequences. The remaining nurses' awareness of medication errors corresponded to the classification described in the relevant foreign and Czech academic literature. None of the interviewed nurses detected all the errors included in the simulated scenarios. Only one nurse, who is currently completing her qualification in this specialty, detected a wrongly prescribed antidote. The simulated scenarios also included a group of high-risk medications that is commonly used at the unit. The first medication included in this group was a 7.45% solution of potassium (KCl). A majority of the participants detected the high concentration of this high-risk medication. Another high-risk medication was a 10% concentrate of NaCl in an infusion; this error was also detected by the majority of the nurses. The third high-risk medication was a wrongly prescribed insulin (it lacked the detailed description of units, time and route). This prescription error was not detected by the majority of participating nurses. Another type of medication error included in the simulated scenarios was a group of medications used specifically in critical care. Only half of the participating nurses successfully detected the errors related to the prescription of this group of medications. The last type or medication errors focused on incomplete prescription by doctors. The most frequently detected error was a prescription of an opiate that lacked the route and the least frequently detected error was a wrong prescription of an infusion administration. It is evident that the nurses always inform the doctor when they detect a medication error. They are more willing to inform the ward sister in cases of incidents caused by somebody else. Only a small group of nurses are willing to inform the senior consultant, the head nurse or the hospital management. Only one nurse associated medication error reporting with an audit. However the majority of nurses agrees that it is important to report any medication errors.Conclusion: The analysed data suggested that the nurses were aware of medication errors. The analysis of the results of the simulated scenarios suggested that nurses' ability to detect medication errors in prescriptions was related to the number of years of experience and the level of education.

Current status: Currently, the safety of patients is a key element in the provision of safe and high quality care. The drug administration is the main danger fro the patiens which is neccessery to be mentined. (Buchini and Quattrin, 2012). Each provider of health care services should follow specific internal regulation of medication process. Morover, it is necessary to support employee to report possible misconduct in the adverse event to the reporting system, which is used to create functional corrective measures. However, we have to realize that it is impossible to forget the role of the patient in the prevention of medication errors. Goals: The main aim of the research was to find out whether the nurses know the recommended nursing procedure of medication to patients.Not only, mentioned the most common misconduct during the administration of drugs, but also identify the most common causes of these misconductions. After that to describe preventive mechanisms for reducing the risk of medication errors. In conclusion it was necessary to point out the cooperation of patients in the process of safe medication administration. Methodology: The research was conducted using a qualitative research method. The data were collected the polling method, along with in-depth interview technique. The qualitative data was coded using ,,paper and pencil" and semantically organized into groups along with the categorization schemes. Research file: In order to archieve the highest level of objectivity the research was carried out with a group of nurses and patients only from the Surgical Department of a particular nursing unit. First, the research consisted of six nurses working in the surgical Department at the hospital České Budějovice a.s. and the second research file consisted of six clients admitted to the same Department. Due to the fact that the respondents were genrally reluctant to cooperate the researched sample is limited.

Inledning: Distraktioner under läkemedelshantering medför risker som kan påverka patientsäkerheten. En tiondel av alla vårdskador som sker inom svensk hälso- och sjukvård är läkemedelsrelaterade. Medvetenheten om risker och konsekvenser i samband med läkemedelshantering kan vara ett steg i att minska förekomsten av dessa vårdskador. Sammantaget kan detta bidra till kortare vårdtider och en minskad kostnad för samhället.  Syfte: Studiens syfte var att beskriva distraherande händelser intensivvårdssjuksköterskan utsätts för under läkemedelsprocessen  Metod: En kvalitativ studie har genomförts med deltagande observation som datainsamlingsmetod. Totalt 60 observationer analyserades utifrån kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Händelser som distraherade intensivvårdssjuksköterskan under läkemedelsprocessen kunde sammanställas i två huvudkategorier, arbetsmiljö och patientens tillstånd. I arbetsmiljön observerades distraherande händelser bero på samtal, trängsel och avsaknad av material samt omvårdnad. Här lyftes även vikten av en lugn omgivning. Patientens tillstånd observerades distrahera när denne blev instabil eller vid larm från medicinteknisk utrustning.  Slutsats: En ökad patientsäkerhet kan uppnås genom att ge intensivvårdssjuksköterskor goda förutsättningar under läkemedelsprocessen. Att öka medvetenheten om distraherande händelser och dess konsekvenser kan även bidra till ökad patientsäkerhet. Vidare forskning inom ämnet kan med fördel göras för att få en ökad förståelse och utveckla rutiner och åtgärder för att förhindra att fel i läkemedelshanteringen uppstår. / 1.      Introduction: Distractions during the medication process induces risks that can potentially impact patient safety. In Sweden, one tenth out of all injuries caused by given care are related to medication errors. Knowledge of the risks and consequences associated with managing medication can be one step forward to reduce the incidence of injuries caused by given care. This may over all contribute to shorter care admissions and a decreased cost for the Swedish society. Aim: To describe distracting events the intensive care nurse was exposed to during the medication process. Method: A qualitative study has been made with participant observation as method for data collection. A total of 60 observations was analyzed through qualitative content analysis.  Result: Events in which the intensive care nurse was distracted during the medication process could be compiled into two main categories, work environment and patient condition. Occurring events observed in the work environment was due to conversations, crowding and lack of material and also patient care. The importance of calm and work privacy was also raised. Distractions due to patient condition was observed in critical situations where the patient became unstable or when medical device equipment alerted.  Conclusion: Increased patient safety can be obtained by giving intensive care nurses better conditions during the medication process. Raising the knowledge of distractive events and their consequences can also contribute with an increase in patient safety. Further research can be beneficial in order to increase understanding as well as development of routine procedures and plans of action to prevent errors in the medication process.