The Effects of a High- Alert Drug Management Program on Medication Administration Perceived by Professional Nurses in a Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine and compare the role of high-alert drug administration as perceived by professional nurses following the implementation of a structured management program. The sample consisted of 60 professional nurses working in the surgical department of a tertiary hospital, purposively selected and assigned equally to an experimental group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). Research instruments included a high-alert drug management program and a role perception questionnaire. The instruments were validated by experts, yielding a content validity index (CVI) of 0.97, and demonstrated acceptable internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.86. Descriptive statistics and inferential analyses (independent and dependent t-tests) were employed. Results revealed that the experimental group, after participating in the program, reported a significantly higher mean score in role perception related to high-alert drug administration (X̄ = 3.68, SD = 0.80), compared to the control group (X̄ = 2.69, SD = 0.19) at a statistical significance level of p < 0.001. Furthermore, the post-intervention scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than their pre-intervention scores (X̄ = 2.67, SD = 0.27) (p < 0.001). The findings indicate the effectiveness of the high-alert drug management program in enhancing nurses’ perceived roles in medication administration, thereby contributing to improved patient safety within the healthcare delivery system.