Evidenced-Based Education on Safe Medication Administration in the Residential Treatment Setting

Abstract

Purpose. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to address the education of unlicensed assistive personnel at recovery housing facilities in proper medication administration practices in Phoenix, Arizona. This project aimed to develop and distribute an educational intervention through an asynchronous PowerPoint presentation that could effectively educate unlicensed personnel, reduce medication errors, and enhance motivation. Background. Medication errors are prevalent issues in healthcare, particularly when non-licensed individuals are administering medication. Studies indicate that utilizing unlicensed assistive personnel for medication distribution resulted in an estimated 20% occurrence of medication errors (Woods et al., 2010). Preliminary research suggests a need for interventions to improve education to reduce medical errors in non-medical, community-based settings. Methods. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. The educational intervention consisted of an online-accessible pre-recorded PowerPoint presentation with a pre-and post-survey. Two types of survey questions were used: a Likert scale to measure attitude and motivation and multiple-choice questions to measure knowledge. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t-tests to determine the significance of the results before and after the intervention. Results. Five participants (N=5) completed the pre-survey, educational presentation, and post-survey. Outcomes indicated no statistically significant difference in knowledge, attitude, and motivation post-intervention. It was noted a small increase in confidence levels. Conclusions. The outcomes of this QI project did not demonstrate statistical significance, indicating a lack of measurable effects on the targeted outcomes. A potential factor could be the small sample size, comprising only five participants, which could limit the project's statistical power to detect meaningful changes. Thus, caution is advised in interpreting the absence of statistical significance, acknowledging the limitations imposed by the sample size.