The Effect of Blended Learning on the Rate of Medication Administration Errors of Nurses in Medical Wards

BACKGROUND: Medication error is one of the most important and most common events threatening patient safety. This study was conducted with the aim to determine the effect of asynchronous hybrid/blended learning on the rate of medication administration errors of nurses in medical wards. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design in 2019. The participants of this study included 57 clinical nurses working in the medical wards of a selected educational hospital affiliated to Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran. The study participants were selected through census method. An asynchronous hybrid/blended learning program was used in this study. Data collection was performed using a two-section researcher-made checklist. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive [Mean (SD)] and inferential (paired sample t-test) statistics in SPSS software. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean score of total errors in medication administration in the medical wards after the intervention was significantly lower than before the intervention; the mean score of errors before and after the study was 61.67 and 50.09, respectively (t(56)= 11.41, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Asynchronous hybrid/blended learning as a type of e-learning, simple, relatively inexpensive, and new educational strategy can improve nurses' performance and reduce medication errors.