Safer medication tool rolls out internationally following Metro North success

Herston Infectious Diseases Institute Research Fellow Karen Davies is making medication administration safer.

A new medication administration tool for nurses is making patient care safer, not only in Metro North – but across the globe!

Created by Herston Infectious Diseases Institute (HeIDI) Research Fellow Karen Davies, the tool to reduce medication administration errors has been so successful it has now been picked up in Canada and America.

Karen, who is also a Clinical Nurse Consultant at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, commenced her research through HeIDI and University of Queensland with the aim of developing a nurse-friendly solution.

“When I started in safe medication practice 22 years ago, we didn’t have a tool to assess our practice – my push from the start has been to design and validate a rigorous but simple and effective tool for nurses to make medication administration even safer,” Karen said.

“It’s shown a statistically significant improvement in safer medication practice, and it’s a simple reminder and prompt for nurses when at the patient bedside, rather than adding another step to an already busy day.

“It’s been designed with consumers too, as patients are our final safety check – it’s so important that we are engaging directly with our patients to make sure the medication is right and they are part of the process, keeping them safe in hospital and also when they go home.”

Karen’s PHD was seen by practitioners across the world in hospitals and universities, who contacted her to ask her if they could use her tool.

“I’m so happy people are using it, that was the whole goal to make it readily available,” she said.

The tool is currently being used across Metro North with Karen’s work continuing as she implements and adapts the tool to local processes.