Influence of the medication environment on the unsafe medication behaviour of nurses: A path analysis

Aims and objectives To explore the relationship between the medication environment and the unsafe medication behaviour of nurses and to analyse its influence path. Background Unsafe medication behaviour is the direct cause of medication error. The organisational environment is the foundation of and plays a guiding role in work behaviour. Whether the medication environment correlates with the unsafe medication behaviour of nurses remains unclear. Design This study used a correlative design with self‐administered questionnaires, and the SHEL model, an acronym of its elements of software, hardware, environment and liveware, was used as the framework for the medication environment. Methods A survey was conducted among 1,012 clinical nurses from five tertiary hospitals in China using the nurse unsafe medication behaviour scale and the nurses’ perceptions of the medication environment scale. Data were collected from January–February 2017. Path analyses were used to examine the hypothesised model. Results The medication environment correlated negatively with unsafe medication behaviour (r = −.48, p