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Improving medication safety and quality of care is a priority for health systems both nationally and globally (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). The Joint Commission added medication safety as a National Patient Safety Goal and the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project was established to improve patient safety in nursing school curricula (Cronewett et al., 2009; The Joint Commission, 2018). The QSEN initiative identified six key competency areas: patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement (QI), safety, and informatics. Medication administration is a significant area of safety that nursing curricula must include to improve nursing students' competencies and quality of care (Lee & Quinn, 2019).
Medication administration commonly is regarded as complex and high risk that often is conducted in a chaotic setting where interruptions are common and multitasking is an inevitable workflow trait (Potter et al., 2005; Thomas et al., 2017). Nurses in the acute care setting use established protocols and safety measures in the process of medication administration that are critical to the maintenance of safety and prevention of errors. Today's nursing educators are challenged to understand the complexities of medication administration and develop teaching strategies that enhance students' knowledge of error-producing situations, patient safety issues, and identification and management of interruptions to prevent errors. Undergraduate nursing curricula should prepare graduates for such real-world complexities through medication administration education that develops improved critical thinking and influences future practice for greater patient safety.
Background
In undergraduate nursing education, medication administration teaching traditionally focuses on the theory of medication safety, pharmacology, and math calculations (Hewitt, 2015). Students then practice these skills through a variety of strategies such as role-play, laboratory practice, technology aids, clinical experiences, video, on-line learning modules, case studies, and most often, simulation (Aggar & Dawson, 2014; Arthur et al., 2013; Hewitt et al., 2015; Lee & Quinn, 2019). Faculty are continually faced with developing ways to bridge the gap between the theory of medication administration and practice with improved safety as the acute care environment frequently changes and patient care becomes more complex. Current teaching strategies allow nursing students to practice skills of medication administration in an environment such...