Determination of adherence to labeled recommendations of intravenous antibiotics administration among health care providers: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Adherence to medication administration guidelines is the basic medical and nursing standard and a critical component in medication safety. Specifically, for antibiotics, this helps to minimize serious and life-threatening adverse effects. Patients and methods A cross-sectional study was performed to determine adherence to intravenous (i.v.) antibiotic administration recommendations, especially rate of administration among health care providers, especially nurses. by direct prospective observation of 210 nurses in 14 clinical departments in Menoufia University Hospital, Menoufia, Egypt. Observations were guided using a checklist to collect quantitative data. Results Quantitative data analysis revealed that 46.7% of nurses stuck to administration rate guidelines. Nurses who read medical labels showed a higher rate of i.v. antibiotics administration as recommended (95 vs 64.7%, P<0.05) and lower years of experiences (6.9 vs. 11.6, P<0.05) compared with nurses who did not read the medical labels. Multivariate logistic regressions revealed that nurses who read medical labels were more likely to give antibiotics as recommended [odds ratio (OR)=5.4]. In addition, nurses with more years of experience or did not use infection control precautions were more likely to administer i.v. antibiotics as a bolus (OR=1.2 and 16.6, respectively). However, nurses with more years of experience were less likely to read medical labels (OR=0.815). Conclusion This study provides evidence that health care providers are in need for more orientation to be more adherent to labeled recommendations of i.v. antibiotic administration. Years of nurses’ experience are not alternative to reading medical labels and may underestimate the importance of medical labels.

Keywords

• adherence
• antibiotic administration safety
• intravenous administration