Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2025, 16(4):2341-2349 | DOI: 10.15452/cejnm.2025.16.0028

Analysis of medication administration safety in hospital settings

Patrícia Bečková, Zuzana Slezáková
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Professional Health Studies, Slovak Medical University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess medication administration safety from the perspective of nurses working in standard inpatient care units at a large regional teaching hospital in Slovakia.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: For data collection, we used the validated Patient Safety Assessment in Medication Administration (ASPAM) tool to detect risk-generating conditions for the occurrence of adverse drug events in nursing practice. The sample consisted of 211 nurses from a selected teaching hospital in the Slovak Republic. For data analysis, we used descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

Results: The mean ASPAM score was 4.30 ± 0.39, indicating generally high adherence to medication safety practices. However, the overall Positivity Index (52.29%) suggested a low quality of safe medication practices. The lowest adherence was detected in the domains “Right patient” and “Right time”. Nurses with ≥ 20 years of experience reported significantly lower adherence, while nurses in surgical units demonstrated significantly higher adherence in several domains. Nurses’ age was a statistically significant negative predictor of adherence to safe medication practices across multiple domains.

Conclusion: This study revealed gaps in nurses’ adherence to safe medication administration practices which may compromise patient safety and the quality of nursing care.

Keywords: medication administration, medication errors, nurse interventions, patient safety

Received: March 22, 2025; Revised: November 15, 2025; Accepted: November 29, 2025; Published: December 6, 2025  Show citation

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Bečková P, Slezáková Z. Analysis of medication administration safety in hospital settings. Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery. 2025;16(4):2341-2349. doi: 10.15452/cejnm.2025.16.0028.
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