Fourth year nursing students’ perceptions of their preparation in medication management: an interpretative phenomenological study.

Patient safety and medication safety are inherently linked. Medication management by healthcare professionals is one area where patient safety can be protected and enhanced. It is imperative that the nursing profession actively addresses medication safety, considering that nurses are the largest group of the healthcare professional workforce. There are inherent links between nurses’ undergraduate educational preparation in medication management and patient safety. Therefore, this study explored fourth year nursing students’ educational preparation in medication management from an Irish perspective. This qualitative research study utilised an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the students’ perceptions. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with students of the undergraduate BSc Nursing (General), BSc Nursing (Intellectual Disability) and BSc Nursing (Mental Health) programmes at the University of Limerick. Data was analysed utilising Burnard’s (2011) method of thematic content analysis. The voices and interpretations of the participants in this study were fundamental to understanding nursing students’ perceptions of their preparation in medication management and provided the foundation for this research. These perceptions were captured in the format of four themes: developing an understanding, embedding knowledge in practice, engaging in practice and accepting professional responsibility. Overall, this research highlights the importance of both the higher education institution and the clinical learning environment in nursing students’ medication management education. There is a need for a collaborative developmental approach within this education that focuses on integrating medication management throughout the students learning across their four years and a need for leadership and support within the clinical learning environment in assuming a supportive role in the students’ educational process.