Institutional related factors influencing adherence to the nursing council of Kenya medication administration guidelines among nurses in a mission hospital in Meru, Kenya

Abstract

Introduction Medication administration errors, which have a significant financial and emotional impact can be greatly reduced if medication administration guidelines are well adhered to. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 117 nurses. The sample was 106 nurses chosen using stratified and simple random sampling. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and an observational checklist. The analysis was done using SPSS Version 21 software. Findings 84.7% respondents reported that the hospital had a policy, 62.4% reported that the hospital facilitated CPD, 76.5% reported that the staffing level was inadequate, 14.1% reported that inter-professional relationship was uncooperative, 82.4%, reported it was cooperative while 3.5% reported that it was very cooperative. On availability of resources, 44.7% reported that resources were always available while 55.3% reported that they were not always available. There was a significant association between CPD, inter-professional relationship and availability of resources with adherence to the Nursing Council of Kenya medication administration guidelines (p=<0.05). Conclusion The adherence level was found to be low. Various institutional related factors had a high influence on adherence to the guidelines. The institution can work towards improving the staffing levels and ensure the availability of resources.