Registered nurses’ perception of their professional role regarding medication management in federal medical centre yenagoa bayelsa state

The study determined the registered nurses’ perception of their professional role regarding medication management in federal medical centre Yenagoa   Bayelsa state. Two (2) research questions based on the two (2) objectives were formulated. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The sample for the study consisted of 170 nurses; instrument used for data collection was a self structured questionnaire which was validated by experts in the field. The reliability of the instrument was established through test re-test method which yielded a high positive correlation of 0.89. The data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages. Based on the findings, the study revealed that monitoring for desirable and unwanted side effect,160(97.0%); providing patient medication education, 96(58.2%); were among the role of nurses in medication management. Wrong dosage, 120(72.2%); administering medication to wrong patient140 (84.8%); unwanted side effects 80(48.4%)  are among the errors that could occur as a result of poor medication management. There is a significant relationship between nurses’ years of experience and perception of their professional role regarding medication management P (0.013) <0.05 Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative (Ho) accepted. It was concluded that nurses have good perception of their professional roles regarding medication management. Some of the recommendations are that nurses must take measures to develop and maintain the competence necessary for professional practice and that nurses are obliged to report any error or omission in practice that may jeopardize patient safety.