Table 2.
Characteristics of included medication administrations before and after implementation of central automated unit dose dispensing and barcode-assisted medication administration
| Characteristics | Pre-intervention N = 1490 medication administrations | Post-intervention N = 1630 medication administrations |
|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | ||
| Patients, n | 245 | 253 |
| Male, n (% of patients) | 145 (59.2) | 128 (50.6) |
| Age, median (IQR) | 62 (50–70) | 61 (47–69) |
| Prescribed medications per day, median (IQR) | 13 (10–16) | 13 (10–17) |
| Medication characteristics | ||
| Pharmaceutical forma, n (% of administrations) | ||
| Oral solid | 936 (62.8) | 1021 (62.6) |
| Oral liquid | 66 (4.4) | 87 (5.3) |
| Infusion | 252 (16.9) | 239 (14.7) |
| Injection | 136 (9.1) | 202 (12.4) |
| Nebulizing solution | 47 (3.2) | 35 (2.1) |
| Ointment | 10 (0.7) | 11 (0.7) |
| Suppository/enema | 17 (1.1) | 8 (0.5) |
| Miscellaneousb | 25 (1.7) | 26 (1.6) |
| Ward characteristics | ||
| Clinical ward, n (% of administrations) | ||
| Internal oncology | 252 (16.9) | 285 (17.5) |
| Neurology | 196 (13.2) | 218 (13.4) |
| Pulmonary medicine | 375 (25.2) | 278 (17.1) |
| Haematology | 234 (15.7) | 215 (13.2) |
| Neurosurgery | 281 (18.9) | 351 (21.5) |
| Hepatopancreatobiliary surgery | 152 (10.2) | 283 (17.4) |
| Time characteristics | ||
| Day of the week, n (% of administrations) | ||
| Weekday | 985 (66.1) | 1097 (67.3) |
| Weekend | 505 (33.9) | 533 (32.7) |
| Time of administration, n (% of administrations) | ||
| 7 a.m.–10 a.m. | 454 (30.5) | 497 (30.5) |
| 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | 236 (15.8) | 248 (15.2) |
| 2 p.m.–6 p.m. | 273 (18.3) | 335 (20.6) |
| 6 p.m.–7 a.m. | 527 (35.4) | 550 (33.7) |
| Workload characteristics | ||
| Patient-to-nurse ratioc, median (IQR) | 5 (4–7) | 5 (4–7) |
| Interruptions | ||
| Yes | 96 (6.4) | 70 (4.3) |
| Staff characteristics | ||
| Observed staff members, n | 179 | 180 |
| Staff members, personal data available, n (% of staff) | 107 (59.8) | 82 (45.6) |
| Male, n (% of staff) | 7 (6.5) | 6 (7.3) |
| Aged, median (IQR) | 30 (25–50) | 27 (23–35) |
| Degree type, n (% of staff) | ||
| Nurse | 68 (63.6) | 53 (64.6) |
| Specialized nurse | 27 (25.2) | 18 (22.0) |
| Student nurse | 10 (9.3) | 10 (12.2) |
| Other | 2 (1.9) | 1 (1.2) |
| Educational levele, n (% of staff) | ||
| Secondary vocational education | 46 (43.4) | 40 (48.8) |
| Higher professional education | 49 (46.2) | 42 (51.2) |
| University education | 1 (0.9) | 0 |
| Other | 10 (9.4) | 0 |
| Experience since nursing diploma, n (% of staff) | ||
| 0–1 year | 18 (16.8) | 11 (13.4) |
| 1–5 years | 20 (18.7) | 33 (40.2) |
| More than 5 years | 60 (56.1) | 27 (32.9) |
| Not applicable | 11 (10.3) | 11 (13.4) |
| Experience in healthcare settingse, n (% of staff) | ||
| 0–1 year | 1 (0.9) | 3 (3.7) |
| 1–5 years | 34 (32.1) | 32 (39.0) |
| More than 5 years | 71 (67.0) | 47 (57.3) |
| Employment typee, n (% of staff) | ||
| Non-temporary | 97 (91.5) | 74 (90.2) |
| Temporary | 6 (5.7) | 8 (9.8) |
| Other | 3 (2.8) | 0 |
IQR, interquartile range.
a
Missing, n = 1 (pre-intervention), n = 1 (post-intervention). bMiscellaneous: inhalers, patches, eye drops/ointments, intestinal gel. cMissing, n = 61 (pre-intervention), n = 128 (post-intervention). dMissing, n = 7 (post-intervention). eMissing, n = 1 (pre-intervention).