Perceptions of parents of children with cancer about medications errors

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate perceptions of parents of children with cancer about medications errors. Materials and Methods: The sample of the study with a cross-sectional descriptive design consisted of parents of 100 children with cancer who received chemotherapy treatment. "The Parents’ Perceptions of Drug Application Security,” “The Methods Used by Parents to Protect Their Children from Medication Errors,” and “The Parents’ Willingness and Attitudes Toward Collaboration with Health Care Professionals" was used to collect research data. Results: It was found that 7% of the parents confronted with a real medication error; of these, 3% medication errors occurred in the form of wrong drug administration. It was also determined that 68% of the parents thought about the possibility of a medication error occurring during their children treatment. The parents responded as “yes” with the corresponding percentage to the following statements: “I always ask the nurse check whether the drug that he/she will administer on my child is the right drug” (37%), “I trust doctors/nurses, so I do not check them” (61%), and “If I encounter with a wrong drug administration, I definitely report it to the relevant authorities” (92%). Conclusions: The participant parents' awareness of the methods to protect their children from medication errors was found to be inadequate in some applications, but adequate in some others. It was also determined that they were willing to cooperate with health care professionals against medication errors.

Keywords

• i̇laç hatası
• çocuk
• kanser
• ebeveyn
• algı
• medication errors
• child
• cancer
• parents
• perception