Efficacy and Usefulness of an Educational Video on Safe Medication Handling

Background: Medication errors are a significant and detrimental issue in anesthesia practice and have the potential to have drastic effects for patients, providers, and hospitals; therefore, it is important to determine if an educational video on safe medication handling technique can improve knowledge on safe medication handling. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and perceived usefulness of an investigator-developed educational video on nurse anesthesia trainees’ (NATs) knowledge of safe medication handling. Methods: A single group pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate actual knowledge and perceived usefulness of safe medication handling video. A convenience sample included 19 voluntary second year NATs at NorthShore University HealthSystem School of Anesthesia. Results: Using a paired sample t- test, a statistically significant difference was found between the pre-knowledge assessment tool mean score of M = 3.6842 with SD = 1.97 and the postknowledge assessment tool mean score of M = 7.6842 with SD = 2.26 (t = 6.643; df = 18; p = 0.00*). The overall mean score of the Perceived Usefulness Scale was M = 4.28; SD=.36, indicating moderately high perceived usefulness of the safe handling video. Eighty nine and a half percent (n=17) of the participants rated each question in the Perceived Usefulness Questionnaire greater than the neutral score of 3. Conclusion: The educational video increased the knowledge on NAT-2’s on safe medication handling and was perceived as a useful tool. The video can be used for future NAT-2s to increase their knowledge on safe medication handling prior to their clinical experience