Why do nursing students make medication errors? A qualitative study in Indonesia

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore Indonesian nursing students' perceptions of the types and causes of medication errors in clinical rotations. METHODS: This descriptive qualitative study was conducted with 26 nursing students who had completed their final clinical rotations. Data were collected through four focus group discussions and analysed by Colaizzi's method. RESULTS: Three themes were obtained from the data analysis: important role played by nurses in medication safety, types of medication errors (near misses) committed by nursing students, and the causes of medication errors during clinical rotations. CONCLUSION: Nurses play a vital role in dispensing medication and ensuring patient safety, but near misses are still reported during clinical rotations. Lack of knowledge, skills, proper supervision, and appropriate role models during clinical rotations lead to medication errors by nursing students. Appropriate role models and adequate supervision in the clinical education stage are necessary to ensure the achievement of medication safety competencies.