Level of Knowledge Among Nurses Regarding Drug Dose Calculation Working at Tertiary Care Hospital Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Introduction: Medication errors, including prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and administration errors, remain a major patient safety concern and are commonly caused by incorrect dose calculations, miscommunication, labeling problems, and inadequate monitoring (Salman et al., 2020). Common medication errors include wrong dose, wrong patient, incorrect route, incorrect timing, calculation errors, and allergy-related errors (Mohammed et al., 2017). Inadequate training, heavy workloads, and poor numeracy skills significantly contribute to these errors, emphasizing the need for continuous education and critical thinking among nurses (Awajeh et al., 2019; Al-faouri et al., 2014; Wright, 2010). High-alert medications further increase the risk of serious patient harm, making nurses' competency in drug dose calculation essential (Kumar & Rehman, 2022). The Institute of Medicine defines a medical error as the failure of a planned action or the use of an incorrect plan to achieve an intended outcome (An & Study, 2024). Methodology: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 328 nurses from four tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (LRH = 100, HMC = 90, KTH = 78, PIC = 60), using a convenience sampling technique. Data were collected through an adopted structured questionnaire with informed consent and analyzed using SPSS version 27. Descriptive statistics and a six-point Likert scale were used to assess nurses' knowledge regarding drug dose calculation. Results: All 328 participants were included in the analysis. The overall mean knowledge score was 3.305, corresponding to an average knowledge level of 45.2%, indicating a moderate level of knowledge regarding drug dose calculation. Most participants were aged 20–30 years, 69.2% were female, the majority held a BS Nursing qualification, 63.1% had less than three years of experience, and 55.8% had not attended a medication-related training course during the previous year. Although 94.2% reported satisfaction with their medication administration practices, the findings highlight the need for improved education and regular training to enhance medication safety. Discussion: The findings indicate that nurses working in tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar possess only moderate knowledge of drug dose calculation despite relatively high educational qualifications. Limited clinical experience and insufficient participation in medication training may contribute to this knowledge gap. Strengthening continuing education, drug calculation training, and organizational support is essential to improve medication safety and reduce medication errors.