Research Article Registered Nurses’ Experiences with the Medication Administration Process Hanna Pirinen, 1 Lotta Kauhanen, 1 Riitta Danielsson-Ojala, 1 Johan Lilius, 2 Ilona Tuominen, 2 Natalia Díaz Rodríguez, 2 and Sanna Salanterä 1 1 Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Lemmink¨ aisenkatu 1, 20520 Turku, Finland 2 Turku Centre for Computer Science (TUCS), Department of Information Technologies, ˚ Abo Akademi University, Joukahaisenkatu 3-5 A, 20520 Turku, Finland Correspondence should be addressed to Lotta Kauhanen; anloka@utu.i Received 21 May 2015; Revised 26 August 2015; Accepted 27 August 2015 Academic Editor: Ann M. Mitchell Copyright © 2015 Hanna Pirinen et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Registered nurses (RNs) have a role in the medication administration process (MAP) multiple times per day in a hectic hospital environment. his requires a great deal from the RNs in order to accomplish the demanding task of avoiding adverse drug events. However, the process has not been widely studied from the nurses’ perspective. Aim. he aim of this study was to describe the diferent stages of MAP from the RNs’ perspective. Methods. A qualitative descriptive research design, with a purposive sample involving thematic interviews of 20 RNs and questions to them in a paper form, was conducted in two medical units. Data was analyzed by using deductive content analysis. Results. he results revealed that RNs confront numerous problems such as equivocal prescriptions, problems with information technology (IT), unavailability or incompatibility of the medicines, a substantial amount of generic substitutions, and changing medicine brands. Disruptions and distraction run through each stage of the MAP, excluding prescribing. he RNs desire support in all stages of the MAP. Conclusion. here are areas to improve in each stage of the MAP from the RNs perspective. Real-time and ubiquitous documentation, along with sotware including the data and knowledge required in medication management, is needed. 1. Introduction he medication administration process (MAP) is a complex and multistage practice in hospital settings. MAP plays a central role in nursing and is mostly managed by nurses, except prescribing that is conducted by the physicians. However, nurses are in some way involved in each stage of the MAP, including prescribing, documenting (transcrib- ing), dispensing, administering, and monitoring. MAP is a time-consuming task, taking an estimated up to 40% of nurses’ work time [1] where interruptions and distractions are common [2] which is not facilitated by the continuously increasing number of new medicines and generics [3]. In this paper, by nurse we mean registered nurses (RNs) that do not have the prescription authority. However, nurses have an essential role in prescribing. By “RNs’ role in prescribing” we mean the work that nurses conduct in inter- preting and understanding the prescriptions. Nurses’ role in prescribing might also include suggesting medication and asking the physician to check patient’s medication or to do medication changes. In addition, nurses have a responsibility to prevent, evaluate, and report drug efects, side efects, and adverse drug events. In the participating hospital nurses also program the drug administration times and document them into to the medicine sotware. he complexity of the MAP exposes risks to medication errors that are surprisingly common and costly [4]. he report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System estimated that, in the United States, 44,000 to 98,000 patients die annually because of medication errors, with an estimated cost of 17–29 billion dollars [5]. Many of these errors are [6– 8] thus preventable. Moreover, developing medication safety is one of the main political objectives recognized in the European Commission [9]. Medication errors occur in all stages of the MAP in hos- pital settings, most frequently at administration, prescribing, Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Nursing Volume 2015, Article ID 941589, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/941589