A quality initiative: a system-wide reduction in serious medication events through targeted simulation training.

Medication administration errors are common and costly, especially for children. Investigators conducted a multipronged quality improvement intervention for pediatric medication administration. First, they implemented a one-time simulation training for pediatric bedside nurses across emergency department, hospital ward, and intensive care settings to foster use of standardized medication administration best practices. They observed bedside nursing via audits for 18 months of follow-up. Adherence to best practices improved from 51% of medication administration instances to 84%, and the rate of medication administration errors declined significantly. The authors suggest that simulation training is an effective strategy to improve the safety of pediatric medication administration.