Flow of Medication Information Incidents in the Home Care Setting in Finland: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

TL;DR

This study explores challenges in medication information flow in Finnish home care and offers ways to prevent them based on nurses' and leaders' perspectives.

Contribution

A qualitative analysis of medication information flow challenges in home care, focusing on nurses' and leaders' views for prevention strategies.

Findings

Challenges include complexity of home care work, technology issues, and individual healthcare professional factors.

Prevention strategies involve standard practices, increased resources, and better client guidance.

Collaboration between home care and hospital teams is essential for improving medication information flow.

Abstract

To describe the challenges related to the flow of medication information in home care, their contributing factors, and home care registered nurses' and nurse leaders' views on preventing them.

A descriptive qualitative study.

Six group and one individual semi‐structured interview were conducted remotely with 15 home care registered nurses and nurse leaders between 12 February 2023 and 9 November 2023 in Finland. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

We identified four main themes related to the challenges of medication information flow: the complexity of home care work in cooperation and the medication process, technology‐related challenges, the healthcare professionals' individual factors and client‐related challenges. These factors contributed to the challenges: the lack of healthcare professionals' resources, the healthcare professionals' attitudes to work and individual characteristics, the lack of healthcare professionals' uniform practices and client‐related factors. Preventing challenges and incidents: strengthening standard healthcare practices, increasing healthcare resources, improving the individual factors of healthcare professionals, and guiding the client in the management of medication.

The medication information flow can be improved by discussing standard practices for the flow of medication information in home care and between home care and hospital teams.

It is crucial to identify challenges, contributing factors and prevention in the medication information flow from the home care registered nurses' and nurse leaders' perspective. These elements play an important role in developing medication information flow by collaborating extensively with other healthcare providers, clients, and relatives.

Healthcare professionals, nurse leaders, and educators can utilise this study's findings to develop the flow of medication information within and between organisations.

The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used.

No patient or public contribution.

Figures