Pharmacovigilance and patient safety as a daily practice in nursing in two Latin-American countries

Abstract

Introduction: the study was conducted in Argentina and Peru, focusing on scenarios of daily nursing practice in the administration of safe medication on the axes of pharmacovigilance and/or patient safety. Objective: to determine and compare pharmacovigilance and patient safety as daily nursing practice in public and private health care contexts, in order to detect scenarios that may lead to error. Method: quantitative, relational, observational, prospective, cross-sectional and analytical research, with a comparative relational design. Two validated and reliable instruments were used. Sample of 230 nurses (Argentina =140, Perú = 90). Results: 81,8 % of nurses in Huancavelica, 68,6 % in Chachapoyas (Peru), 73,7 % in Buenos Aires and 60,8 % in Rosario (Argentina) reported efficient pharmacovigilance; while 71,4 % of nurses in Chachapoyas, 65,5 % in Huancavelica Peru, 52,6 % in Buenos Aires and 44,1 % in Rosario (Argentina) reported patient safety. In both countries, 66 % of nurses perform the 10 correct steps for medication administration. In addition, 82 % indicate that the medical prescription is not legible and 86 % show that the prescription is complete from the medical action. Conclusion: efficient pharmacovigilance and safe patient safety are applied in both countries. The alternative hypothesis was contrasted, where both variables are related to each other, where: X2 = 16,807, gl = 2, p = 0,000. At the same time, there are significant differences between Argentina and Peru, with a t-student = 3,770, gl = 229, p = 0,000.