Effect of Warning Symbols Combined with Education on the Frequency of Erroneously Crushing Medication in Nursing Homes: An Uncontrolled Before and After Study

The study assessed the effectiveness of combining warning symbols with educational interventions to reduce medication crushing errors in nursing homes in the Netherlands. Involving 36 nurses and 197 patients across 3 nursing homes, the intervention included warning symbols on medication packaging and educational materials such as lectures, newsletters, and posters. Results showed a significant reduction in crushing errors from 3.1% to 0.5%, and for patients with swallowing difficulties, errors decreased from 87.5% to 30.0%. The study concluded that this approach was effective in reducing errors, though the lack of a control group and inability to assess long-term effects were noted as limitations.