Is medication administration in the elderly influenced by nurses’ demographics in South Africa?

Abstract

Background: Globally, nurses are increasingly employed post-retirement, with task-shifting to nurses with lower competencies, a lack of knowledge being a barrier, all of which could lead to medication errors.Aim: To describe the impact of nurses’ age, experience, training, and skill mix on the medication administration processes in long-term care facilities (LTCFs).Setting: Nurses (N=123) working in 28 LTCFs in the Western Cape province, South Africa.Methods: A quantitative non-experimental, cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The LTCFs were divided into funded (state-subsidised) and private (for profit) facilities using a stratified sampling method and each stratum thereafter randomised to obtain equal samples from each stratum. Self-administered questionnaires with close-ended statements were used, and statistical software (SPSS version 27) to perform descriptive and inferential analyses.Results: Respondents, (27%), had more than nine years of experience, with 15.8% aged 61-70 years; and 3.5% aged 71-80 years. Some were ‘very inexperienced’ in computer use (29.3%), 35% received medication training longer than five years ago, and n=28 nurses administered medication outside their scope of practice. The highest sources of job pressure were an increase in workloads (75.6%), being under stress (42.3%), and being overworked (39.0%).Conclusion: The aging nursing workforce, although experienced, found the job demands, paperwork, and technology barriers. Outdated training and delegating medication administration to lower categories of nurses can lead to medication errors.Contribution: This study’s findings can serve as a guideline for creating succession plans, recruiting procedures, development, and training of nurses, and improving clinical practices.