Effects of tall man lettering on the visual behaviour of critical care nurses while identifying syringe drug labels: a randomised in situ simulation.
medical error, measurement/epidemiology
patient safety
safety culture
Journal
BMJ quality & safety
ISSN: 2044-5423
Titre abrégé: BMJ Qual Saf
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101546984
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 2023
01 2023
Historique:
received:
03
11
2021
accepted:
11
02
2022
pubmed:
10
3
2022
medline:
27
12
2022
entrez:
9
3
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Patients in intensive care units are prone to the occurrence of medication errors. Look-alike, sound-alike drugs with similar drug names can lead to medication errors and therefore endanger patient safety. Capitalisation of distinct text parts in drug names might facilitate differentiation of medication labels. The aim of this study was to test whether the use of such 'tall man' lettering (TML) reduces the error rate and to examine effects on the visual attention of critical care nurses while identifying syringe labels. This was a prospective, randomised in situ simulation conducted at the University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Under observation by eye tracking, 30 nurses were given 10 successive tasks involving the presentation of a drug name and its selection from a dedicated set of 10 labelled syringes that included look-alike and sound-alike drug names, half of which had TML-coded labels.Error rate as well as dwell time, fixation count, fixation duration and revisits were analysed using a linear mixed-effects model analysis to compare TML-coded with non-TML-coded labels. TML coding of syringe labels led to a significant decrease in the error rate (from 5.3% (8 of 150 in non-TML-coded sets) to 0.7% (1 of 150 in TML-coded sets), p<0.05). Eye tracking further showed that TML affects visual attention, resulting in longer dwell time (p<0.01), more and longer fixations (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively) on the drug name as well as more frequent revisits (p<0.01) compared with non-TML-coded labels. Detailed analysis revealed that these effects were stronger for labels using TML in the mid-to-end position of the drug name. TML in drug names changes visual attention while identifying syringe labels and supports critical care nurses in preventing medication errors.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Patients in intensive care units are prone to the occurrence of medication errors. Look-alike, sound-alike drugs with similar drug names can lead to medication errors and therefore endanger patient safety. Capitalisation of distinct text parts in drug names might facilitate differentiation of medication labels. The aim of this study was to test whether the use of such 'tall man' lettering (TML) reduces the error rate and to examine effects on the visual attention of critical care nurses while identifying syringe labels.
METHODS
This was a prospective, randomised in situ simulation conducted at the University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Under observation by eye tracking, 30 nurses were given 10 successive tasks involving the presentation of a drug name and its selection from a dedicated set of 10 labelled syringes that included look-alike and sound-alike drug names, half of which had TML-coded labels.Error rate as well as dwell time, fixation count, fixation duration and revisits were analysed using a linear mixed-effects model analysis to compare TML-coded with non-TML-coded labels.
RESULTS
TML coding of syringe labels led to a significant decrease in the error rate (from 5.3% (8 of 150 in non-TML-coded sets) to 0.7% (1 of 150 in TML-coded sets), p<0.05). Eye tracking further showed that TML affects visual attention, resulting in longer dwell time (p<0.01), more and longer fixations (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively) on the drug name as well as more frequent revisits (p<0.01) compared with non-TML-coded labels. Detailed analysis revealed that these effects were stronger for labels using TML in the mid-to-end position of the drug name.
CONCLUSIONS
TML in drug names changes visual attention while identifying syringe labels and supports critical care nurses in preventing medication errors.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35260415
pii: bmjqs-2021-014438
doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2021-014438
pmc: PMC9811086
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
26-33Commentaires et corrections
Type : CommentIn
Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.
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