title: The relationship between incidence and report of medication errors and working conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medication errors are considered to be a serious threat to patients' safety. Efforts to detect and prevent these errors have increased considerably in recent years.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the incidence and reporting rate of medication errors as reported by Iranian nurses and their relationship with work conditions in hospitals under the authority of Iran University of Medical Sciences.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive-analytical study was carried out in six hospitals. Through a stratified multiple stage sampling, 300 nurses were selected. A researcher-constructed, three-part, self-report questionnaire was used to collect data regarding the nurses' medication errors, medication error reports and their perceived working conditions during the previous 3 months. The data were processed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean of medication errors that nurses recalled was 19.5, and the mean of error reporting was 1.3 cases during the previous 3 months. The relationship between error incidence and work conditions as perceived by nurses was statistically significant (df = 3, P ≤ 0.0001); however, there was no significant relationship between reporting the occurred error and nurses' perceived work conditions (df = 3, P ≤ 0.255).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The establishment of an efficient reporting system, documentation of errors and removal of obstacles to reporting may result in reduced frequency of medication errors. Considering the relationship between medication error incidence and working conditions, it seems that creating a work condition in which nurses feel more comfortable and decreasing work tensions may pave the way to preventing nursing errors.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nursing Care Research, School of Nursing & Midwifery MS in Statistics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joolaee
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hajibabaee
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peyrovi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haghani
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bahrani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace