Nurses' knowledge of drug-drug interaction of commonly administered drugs in the adult intensive care setting of Miri General Hospital

Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate adult intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ knowledge of medication interactions of the commonly administered ICU drugs in Miri General Hospital.

Methods:

We recruited all nurses working in adult ICU ward in Miri General Hospital (N=32). Data collected through a questionnaire of 10 sets of medications with or without drug interactions. The answers given a score of 10 (100%) to determine their knowledge on drug interactions. The answers determined using the LEXICOMP database.

Results:

There was a large variation of scores obtained among the ICU nurses. The knowledge of nurses regarding the drug-drug interactions used in ICU setting in Miri General Hospital analysed according to the variables collected and found to have no correlation with their age, education level, years of working experience in hospital setting and years of experience working in the ICU setting.

Conclusion:

It is important to inform the authorities and professionals about the importance of the knowledge of medication interactions for nurses working in the ICU setting, and to implement actions for patient safety related to drug therapy.