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Reducing medication errors: would colour-coded trays help nurses?

Multicoloured containers supported anaesthetists to select the correct syringes in study tests, now researchers suggest these rainbow trays could help nurses too
Multicoloured trays holding syringes used in anaethesia

Multicoloured containers supported anaesthetists to select the correct syringes in study tests, now researchers suggest these rainbow trays could help nurses too

Multicoloured trays holding syringes used in anaethesia

Colour-coded syringe trays could help nurses cut down on medication errors and improve patient safety, research suggests.

Simply exchanging conventional trays for bright rainbow-coloured containers to hold drugs used for anaesthesia and sedation could help reduce human error in busy clinical environments such as operating theatres – and could be deployed more widely in nursing too.

Mistakes less common and spotted more quickly

Data suggest drug-related errors, such as accidental syringe swaps, occur in 1 in 133 anaesthetic administrations. Medication errors are extremely common in the NHS, with a 2018 study estimating 237 million such mistakes happen every year in England’s NHS alone. Hundreds of deaths annually result from avoidable drug reactions.

But researchers at the University of Derby have tested a novel way to make it easier for nurses and other healthcare professionals to visibly distinguish between syringes, making mistakes less likely.

They looked at the use of divided, multicoloured trays, to see if these could help prevent errors. The team found the coloured trays helped users select the correct drug first time more quickly, compared to conventional trays. And when the wrong syringe was selected, this was spotted sooner. The trays were trialled by anaesthetists in clinical skills suites at the university and an NHS hospital.

Wider applications in nursing

Frances Maratos, of the university’s research team, told Nursing Standard the trays could be used to reduce medication errors in other areas of practice, including nursing.

‘More importantly, the research could inform investigation of medication errors in those areas,’ Professor Maratos added.

‘Our results are also promising with respect to improving patient safety. For example, the organisation of colour-coded trays may facilitate secondary checks from theatre staff… as an additional safety layer, with the aim of preventing drug errors.’


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