Perspectives of Healthcare Professionals, Patients and Family Members on Managing Regular Medications Across the Perioperative Pathway: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.
Atefeh Mehrabifar, Elizabeth Manias, Thomas E Poulton and 3 others
PMID 41017772WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses described identifying discrepancies and contacting the team, but poor documentation, outdated medication lists, and electronic chart withhold status disrupted perioperative medication continuity.
Key findings
01Medication decisions were often poorly documented or stored in hard-to-find sections of the electronic record, and these gaps disrupted continuity and contributed to preventable errors.
02Nurses described confusion when a withheld regular medication still appeared on the medication chart because the withhold function was not updated promptly.
03Nurses described identifying discrepancies and contacting the team when charted medications seemed inappropriate.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted in a specialist cancer hospital with a mature electronic record system, so the findings may not fit emergency, trauma, day surgery, or hospitals with paper or hybrid systems. Only four nurses participated, so non-nursing perspectives were more prominent in the dataset. Patients had to understand English and could not be physiologically unstable or need continuous intensive treatment, so more acutely ill or non-English-speaking patients were not represented. Transcripts were not returned to participants for comment, and focus groups were single-discipline, which may have increased candour within professions but limited observation of interprofessional exchange. The study reports perceptions and process problems, not tested interventions or measured medication error rates.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The supplied text does not report a funding source.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the suggested electronic record prompts, family involvement, or discharge tools as evidence that they reduce medication errors. This qualitative study reports perceptions and process problems, not tested outcomes.