Factors determining hospital nurses' failures in reporting medication errors in Taiwan.
This study examined factors that were determined to lead to failures in reporting medication administration errors (MAEs) for 838 frontline nurses from 5 teaching hospitals in Taiwan. The underreporting of these errors is a challenge to medication safety improvement. Results showed that 337 (47%) participating nurses had failed to report self- or coworker-MAEs and 376 nurses (52.4%) had not failed to report. The strongest predictors of the failure were experience of making MAEs, differences in attitude toward reporting self- and coworker-MAEs, and perceived MAE reporting rate in current work. The reporting barriers of fear, perception of nursing quality, and perception of nursing professional development significantly contributed to failure to report. Educating nurses about the goals of incident reporting systems and using MAE data to enhance patient safety culture is recommended. Further, hospital administrators should provide information and encouragement to nurses whose responsibility it is to report MAEs.
Chiang
Hui-Ying
HY
Nursing Department, Chi Mei Medical Center, Yung Kang City, Tainan, Taiwan.
Lin
Shu-Yuan
SY
Hsu
Su-Chen
SC
Ma
Shu-Ching
SC
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005239:Fear; D006272:Health Facility Environment / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012308:Risk Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D017751:Safety Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D014342:Truth Disclosure