Misreading Injectable Medications-Causes and Solutions: An Integrative Literature Review

摘要

Background: This integrative review examines research identifying the misreading of injectable medications as a cause ofmedication error in hospitals, factors affecting injectable medication visibility leading to medication errors, and interven-tions to increase the readability of injectable medications. Signal detection theory (SDT) is applied to explain why visualenhancement of injectable medications may improve accuracy of administration.Methods: Academic health databases were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2019. An integrative reviewmethodology permitted exploration and critique of both theoretical and empirical literature.Results: Fifteen studies reported that misreading injectable medications contributed to medication errors. Five studiesinvestigated interventions to improve visualization of injectable medications. SDT suggested three factors may contributeto misreading injectable medications: (1) environmental light levels, (2) medication labels, and (3) clinician factors.Conclusion: Although the literature on this topic was limited and not definitive, results of this review indicated possibleways to improve practice and targets for future research to reduce medication errors due to misreading injectable medicationlabels.