Nursing actions for a safe medications administration: an integrative review

Abstract

Objective: To present the nursing actions published on the errors prevention during the medications administration in the ICU. Method: This is a survey of integrative review, by including papers on nursing actions to reduce errors during the medications administration, published in the period from 2005 to 2011 and indexed in the following databases: LILACS, BDENF and SciELO. Results: we have selected and analyzed 13 papers that met the selection criteria. The discussion was designed from the types of errors. It became clear that the most cited actions to prevent errors during the medications administration were: to adopt protocols and guidelines for the medications administration; to identify the drug to be administered in the patient through barcodes; and to use incompatible connectors in different routes. Conclusion: the nursing should know the types of errors and adopt actions aimed at reducing errors the medications administration.