Improvements in the access and availability of guidelines for the administration of medication in the nursesí units of our hospital.

Background The nursing staff has the responsibility of administrating drugs correctly to the appropriate patients. Sometimes, the access to information about giving medication, the stability and compatibility of medicines, is not adequate. Purpose Improving the availability of information about giving medication in the nurses9 units Materials and methods Up to date bibliography about guidelines for the administration of drugs was researched on the internet. Using these key words: Guidelines; administration; Internet – intranet. Standard guidelines for the administration of medication available on each of the floors of our hospital were referred to. Results The first step has been to create access, on the hospital9s intranet which enables nurses to search a basic drugs database in our community of Castilla y Leon (Remedios®) and another to the guidelines used at the Reina Sofia University Hospital and Hospital Son Espases, which are both available in PDF format. The authors have also made the guidelines of parenteral drugs of the Hospital University of Salamanca (www.ismp.es) available in paper format. This information is being reinforced with talks and leaflets given by the pharmacy staff in the hospital nursing units about on-line resources. The pharmacy staff are frequently reminded about the availability of a pharmacist from 8 a.m to 10 p.m every day (in the pharmacy The authors have specific books about drug administration like Trissell, Stockley, Martindale, CD stabilis; Medimecum; Spanish Guidelines about drugs administration; Micromedex; and selected Internet sites. Conclusions The patient safety unit together with the pharmacy services and nursing management have improved access and availability of administration guidelines of medication and have also improved the information available about medication on different wards. In this way nurses have been helped to take decisions about the correct administration of drugs which are prescribed by doctors and validated and dispensed by pharmacists.