An Evaluative Study of Practices Related to Administration of Vasoactive Drugs by Nurses

Medication administration is an important function and responsibility of professional nurses, an evaluative study was done to Evaluate the Practices Related to Administration of Vasoactive Drugs by Nurses, in Selected Adult Care Areas of a Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. Sixty nurses were observed while administering vasoactive drugs by using an evaluative proforma based on Donabedian's -structure, process, outcome framework. Results showed that overall practices were lower than the expected standard and therefore needed improvement to reach upto expected standards. There were deficits in practices of nurses related to criteria of structure standard i.e. knowledge of vasoactive drugs, accessibility to protocols and human resources both in special units and general wards, process standard i.e. assessment, nursing diagnosis and intervention, documentation and reporting, and outcome standard i.e. observation of principles of universal precaution, patients / relative satisfaction in special units as well as in general wards..