Pollyanna Kellett and Mary Gottwald look at the evidence on administration practice in clinical settings to help nurse managers improve patient care

There is a need to reduce medication errors, and one way of achieving this for high-risk medications is by double-checking. This article reports the results of a literature review, undertaken as part of an MSc, which examined safe processes for double-checking. The article discusses three themes that emerged from the review: the evidence and processes of double-checking, supportive safety measures and human factors. The review concluded that two people double-checking the entire process enhances and strengthens practice, and that clinical settings and contexts are important to safety in medication administration. The aim of the article is to provide evidence for nurse managers to support their decision making on safe administration practice in clinical settings.