Exploration of Nurses' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceived Barriers towards Medication Error Reporting in a Tertiary Health Care Facility: A Qualitative Approach

Identifying factors influencing clinicians' reporting of medication errors: a systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis using the theoretical domains framework

INTRODUCTION

Medication errors have a significant impact on patient safety and professional practice. The widespread under-reporting of errors by clinicians indicates the critical need for behavioral change. This systematic review aimed to identify and synthesize qualitative evidence on factors influencing clinicians' reporting of medication errors.

AREAS COVERED

Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, PubMed, and Embase were searched until March 2023 for studies on factors influencing clinicians' reporting of medication errors. Two independent reviewers conducted the screening, data extraction, and quality appraisal. Using framework synthesis approach, the identified themes were mapped to Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

EXPERT OPINION

The review analyzed fourteen high-quality studies across various regions. Facilitators of reporting were identified in the TDF domains of beliefs about consequences knowledge and social/professional role and identity. More themes emerged as barriers, mapped to the domains of beliefs about consequences, emotions, environmental context and resources and knowledge. The review suggests aligning these barriers with key behavior change techniques, such as emphasizing the risks of non-reporting, promoting emotional well-being, improving accessibility of reporting systems and advancing knowledge through educational programs. Future work should focus on developing these behavior change techniques into practical interventions.

Estimating Proportion and Barriers of Medication Error Reporting Among Nurses in Hail City, Saudi Arabia: Implications for Improving Patient Safety

Background

Determining the proportion of nurses reporting medication errors (MEs) and identifying the barriers they perceive in ME reporting are crucial to encourage nurses to actively report MEs.

Objective

This study aimed to determine the proportion of nurses experiencing and reporting MEs, perceived barriers to reporting MEs and their association with nurses' sociodemographic and work-related characteristics.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 nurses from June to November 2023. Data about sociodemographic and work-related characteristics, and ME reporting, were collected using a validated self-administered questionnaire.

Results

The study found that 34.3% of nurses reported MEs, while 11.1% reported experiencing MEs during their practice. ME reporting was higher proportion among nurses who were older than 40 years (52.1%), males (41.4%), held a master's degree (58.7%), Saudi nationals (37.8%), experienced for more than 10 years (43.1%), working in intensive care units (44.3%), working for 48 hours or more per week (39.7%), working in hospitals with a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:3 (44.9%) and having a system for incident reporting (37.7%) and with no training on patient safety (44.6%) compared to their counterparts. The rate of experiencing MEs was higher proportion among nurses who were older than 40 years (16.7%), males (17.3%), married (14.8%), Saudi nationals (13.4%), experienced for more than 10 years (15.6%) and with no training on patient safety (15.3%) compared to their counterparts. Lack of knowledge of the person responsible for reporting MEs was the most frequent perceived barrier to ME reporting (66.6%), followed by fears of blame (65.4%).

Conclusion

In this study, nurses reported and experienced MEs during their practice. Most nurses perceive the lack of knowledge and fear of blame or disciplinary actions as barriers to reporting. Healthcare administrators should implement educational programs and workshops to increase nurses' awareness of ME reporting.

Causes of medication administration errors and barriers to reporting as perceived by nurses in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study

Background

Medication administration errors significantly impact patient safety, potentially leading to severe harm or fatality. Reporting such errors through active systems improves medication administration, thereby enhancing patient safety and the quality of care. However, in the context of Saudi Arabia, little is understood about the causes of medication administration errors and the obstacles hindering their reporting.

Objective

This study aimed to explore nurses' perceptions of the causes of medication administration errors and the barriers to reporting them.

Methods

The study employed a qualitative descriptive design, conducting face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 43 nurses from three hospitals in Taif Governorate, Saudi Arabia, between October and November 2023. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants, and thematic analysis was utilized for data analysis.

Results

The following themes emerged regarding the causes of medication administration errors: order deficiencies, high workloads and staff shortages, and malpractice. Regarding the barriers to reporting errors, the emerging themes were fear of punishment and lack of support, lack of knowledge and awareness about reporting, and lack of feedback.

Conclusion

This study reveals nurses' perceptions of the causes of medication administration errors and the barriers to reporting them. Recognizing and addressing these causes and barriers are essential for patient safety and the improvement of the healthcare environment. Efforts should be directed toward implementing interventions that address high workloads, enhance staff education and awareness, and promote a workplace culture conducive to reporting errors without fear of repercussions. Additionally, supportive mechanisms, such as feedback systems and resources for professional development, should be implemented to empower nurses to actively participate in error reporting and contribute to continuous improvement in medication administration practices.

Barriers to Medication Error Reporting in a Federally Qualified Health Center

OBJECTIVE

To explore the NCC MERP Categories of Errors health professionals are most likely to report and characterize what barriers to medication error reporting influence decisions to report and the extent they do so at a large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

DESIGN

Prospective, cross-sectional, survey.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

161 medical professionals at a large FQHC clinic with a small pharmacy team.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Survey responses to explore respondent understanding of medication error categories and the influence of barriers to medication error reporting on their decision to report.

RESULTS

Thirty-six (22.4%) respondents completed the survey. Nearly 40% of respondents would not report a near-miss error and were influenced by workplace/environmental barriers significantly more than those who would report. Regardless of reporting experience or patient-care role, assessed barrier categories influence the decision to report similarly.

CONCLUSION

Near-miss medication errors are inconsistently reported. Efforts to improve reporting should emphasize addressing workplace/environmental barriers.

Critical thinking abilities among newly graduated nurses: A cross-sectional survey study in China

AIM

The aim of this study is to describe critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses with different educational background in China and to explore related factors.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

METHODS

The data were collected using the Chinese Version of Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CTDI-CV). Overall, 588 newly graduated nurses finally completed the survey. Spearman and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to examine the correlation between the CDTI-CV and nurses' general characteristics.

RESULTS

In terms of open-mindedness, analysis and inquisitiveness subscales, significant differences were found among nurses based on three educational level. When dichotomizing total CTDI scores into high and low, nearly 80% of the respondents fell into low score group. Pressure from workplace was high for 68.4% of them. Significant correlation was found among the new graduated nurses' critical thinking ability and their age, education level, reading habit and attitude towards nursing profession.

Development of Consensus-Based Recommendations to Prevent/Minimize Medication Errors in the Perioperative Care of Patients with Epilepsy: A Mixed-Method

BACKGROUND

This study explored medication errors in the perioperative care of patients with epilepsy and developed consensus-based recommendations to prevent/minimize these errors.

METHODS

A mixed method was used in this study. Medication error situations were explored in semi-structured in-depth interviews with nurses (n = 12), anesthesiologists (n = 5), anesthesia technicians (n = 5), surgeons (n = 4), neurologists (n = 4), and patients with epilepsy (n = 10). The qualitative data were analyzed using the qualitative interpretive description approach. A two-round Delphi technique was used among nurses (n = 22), anesthesiologists (n = 9), anesthesia technicians (n = 7), surgeons (n = 7), and neurologists (n = 5).

RESULTS

A total of 1400 minutes of interview time was analyzed in this study. Of the panelists, 39 (78.0%) agreed that patients with epilepsy present unique challenges to providers of perioperative care that make them prone to medication errors. The interviewees in this study described 32 different medication error situations that occurred while providing perioperative care services to patients with epilepsy. In this study, 35 consensus-based recommendations to prevent/minimize medication errors in the perioperative care of patients with epilepsy were developed.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study are informative to decision-makers in health care facilities and other stakeholders in health regulatory authorities who need to design measures to prevent/minimize medication errors and improve perioperative outcomes of patients with epilepsy. Studies are needed to investigate if these recommendations can be effective in preventing/reducing medication errors in the perioperative care of patients with epilepsy.

Knowledge and Attitude toward Medication Error among Pharmacists

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate knowledge and attitude toward medication error (ME) among pharmacists working in public health care institutions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacists working in public health care institutions. Respondents were randomly recruited from 5 hospitals and 25 primary healthcare clinics in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. A set of self-administered questionnaires was used to assess their knowledge and attitude, distributed as a web-based survey. Knowledge and attitude toward ME reporting were assessed using five-point Likert-scale. This study was conducted between May and July 2019. Results: A total of 186 respondents participated in the study. A majority of respondents were female (n = 144). About 90% of the respondents had good score on knowledge on ME. Only 25.4% of the respondents had favorable attitude toward ME reporting. Female pharmacists (P = .001), more experienced pharmacists (P = .012) and those working in primary health clinics (P = .014) were associated with more favorable attitude. Knowledge did not correlate well with attitude toward ME reporting (r = 0.08, P = .29). Conclusion: Despite having good knowledge on ME, the attitude toward ME reporting was still very poor among the pharmacists.

Improving patient safety through identifying barriers to reporting medication administration errors among nurses: an integrative review

BACKGROUND

The aim of the third WHO challenge released in 2017 was to attain a global commitment to lessen the severity and to prevent medication-related harm by 50% within the next five years. To achieve this goal, comprehensive identification of barriers to reporting medication errors is imperative.

OBJECTIVE

This review systematically identified and examined the barriers hindering nurses from reporting medication administration errors in the hospital setting.

DESIGN

An integrative review.

REVIEW METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) including Google scholar were searched to identify published studies on barriers to medication administration error reporting from January 2016 to December 2020. Two reviewers (AA, and KDK) independently assessed the quality of all the included studies using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018.

RESULTS

Of the 10, 929 articles retrieved, 14 studies were included in this study. The main themes and subthemes identified as barriers to reporting medication administration errors after the integration of results from qualitative and quantitative studies were: organisational barriers (inadequate reporting systems, management behaviour, and unclear definition of medication error), and professional and individual barriers (fear of management/colleagues/lawsuit, individual reasons, and inadequate knowledge of errors).

CONCLUSION

Providing an enabling environment void of punitive measures and blame culture is imperious for nurses to report medication administration errors. Policymakers, managers, and nurses should agree on a uniform definition of what constitutes medication error to enhance nurses' ability to report medication administration errors.

Barriers to and facilitators of medication error reporting from the viewpoints of nurses and midwives working in gynecology wards of Tabriz hospitals

Medication error reporting (MER) is an effective way to prevent their repetition in the future. The present study aimed to determine the frequency and factors associated with the causes of MEs and to identify barriers to and facilitators of MER. This descriptive-analytical cross- sectional study was conducted with proportional random sampling on 220 midwives or nurses working in public and private hospitals in Tabriz, Iran. In this study, data were collected using Haddon’s matrix. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The prevalence of MEs in this study was 36.2%. The most common causes of MEs related to weakness of nurses, wards, management and physicians were nursing staff shortage (30.5%), ward work density (51.8%), low ratio of nurses and midwives per patient (70.7%), and illegible prescriptions (76.4%), respectively. Major barriers to MER reported by nurses and midwives were blaming the individual rather than the system (67.7%). Facilitators of MER were anonymous MRE system and feeling safe about working environment. Staff also reported that if reporting is beneficial (preventing future errors, correcting practice, increasing accountability), the odds of reporting MER will increase (54.5%). Given the underlying cause of MEs from the participants' point of view (staff shortage, fear of reprisal and reprimand), it is suggested that the system and health managers adopt appropriate strategies to reduce these important factors (reducing work density and creating a friendly environment).

Medication Administration Error Reporting and Associated Factors among Nurses Working in Public Hospitals, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Medication administration error is one of the most common errors that occur when a discrepancy occurs between the drugs received by the patient and the drug intended by the prescriber. A lot of studies were conducted on medication administration error. But there were a few studies on whether those medication administration errors are reported or not among nurses in Ethiopia. So this study is aimed at assessing the magnitude of medication administration error reporting and the associated factors among nurses.

Objectives

To assess the magnitude of reported medication administration error and associated factors among nurses working in public hospitals, Ethiopia.

Methods

An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was employed from March to April 2019. Simple random sampling technique was used. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and descriptive analysis, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out using SPSS version 21 software.

Results

The magnitude of medication administration error reporting was found to be 37.9%. Being female [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.91; confidence interval (CI) (1.45-5.85)]; belief that errors should not be reported [AOR = .3; CI (.15-.61)]; having work experience of greater than 15 years [AOR = 3.4; CI (1.11-13.85)]; having bachelor science degree [AOR = 3.27; CI (1.61-6.66)]; and caring for greater than 10 patients [(AOR = .4; CI (.16-.96)] were factors associated with nurses medication administration error reporting.

Conclusion

The magnitude of medication administration error reporting among nurses was found to be low. To increase medication administration error reporting, efforts should be made to change the attitude of nurses on the belief that errors should be reported, retaining staffs that have longer experience, upgrading staffs educational status, and limiting the number of patients cared by a single nurse.

Barriers to Incident Reporting among Nurses: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Incident reporting in health care prevents error recurrence, ultimately improving patient safety. A qualitative systematic review was conducted, aiming to identify barriers to incident reporting among nurses. Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for qualitative systematic reviews was followed, with data extracted using JBI QARI tools, and selected studies assessed for methodological quality using Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP). A meta-aggregation synthesis was carried out, and confidence in findings was assessed using GRADE ConQual. A total of 921 records were identified, but only five studies were included. The overall methodological quality of these studies was good and GRADE ConQual assessment score was "moderate." Fear of negative consequences was the most cited barrier to nursing incident reporting. Barriers also included inadequate incident reporting systems and lack of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental cooperation. Lack of nurses' necessary training made it more difficult to understand the importance of incident reporting and the definition of error. Lack of effective feedback and motivation and a pervasive blame culture were also identified.

Knowledge, perceived barriers and facilitators of medication error reporting: a quantitative survey in Malaysian primary care clinics

Background Medication errors are the most common types of medical errors that occur in health care organisations; however, these errors are largely underreported. Objective This study assessed knowledge on medication error reporting, perceived barriers to reporting medication errors, motivations for reporting medication errors and medication error reporting practices among various health care practitioners working at primary care clinics. Setting This study was conducted in 27 primary care clinics in Malaysia. Methods A self-administered survey was distributed to family medicine specialists, doctors, pharmacists, pharmacist assistants, nurses and assistant medical officers. Main outcome measures Health care practitioners' knowledge, perceived barriers and motivations for reporting medication errors. Results Of all respondents (N = 376), nurses represented 31.9% (n = 120), followed by doctors (n = 87, 23.1%), pharmacists (n = 63, 16.8%), assistant medical officers (n = 53, 14.1%), pharmacist assistants (n = 46, 12.2%) and family medicine specialists (n = 7, 1.9%). Of the survey respondents who had experience reporting medication errors, 56% (n = 62) had submitted medication error reports in the preceding 12 months. Results showed that 41.2% (n = 155) of respondents were classified as having good knowledge on medication error and medication error reporting. The mean score of knowledge was significantly higher among prescribers and pharmacists than nurses, pharmacist assistants and assistant medical officers (p < 0.05). A heavy workload was the key barrier for both nurses and assistant medical officers, while time constraints prevented pharmacists from reporting medication errors. Family medicine specialists were mainly unsure about the reporting process. On the other hand, doctors and pharmacist assistants did not report primarily because they were unaware medication errors had occurred. Both family medicine specialists and pharmacist assistants identified patient harm as a motivation to report an error. Doctors and nurses indicated that they would report if they thought reporting could improve the current practices. Assistant medical officers reported that anonymous reporting would encourage them to submit a report. Pharmacists would report if they have enough time to do so. Conclusion Policy makers should consider using the information on identified barriers and facilitators to reporting medication errors in this study to improve the reporting system to reduce under-reported medication errors in primary care.

Reporting frequency of three near-miss error types among hospital pharmacists and associations with hospital pharmacists' perceptions of their work environment

OBJECTIVES

Medical error reporting is one of the main strategies health care institutions utilize to evaluate and improve patient safety. Many factors can influence error reporting frequency, including work environment. The study objectives were to: 1) explore hospital pharmacists' reporting frequency of three distinct near-miss errors types and 2) examine the association between near-miss error reporting frequency and work environment perceptions, specifically pharmacists' perceptions of managers' actions to promote patient safety, teamwork, and staffing issues.

METHODS

Pharmacist data from the 2016 AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture were analyzed. Near-miss errors included errors that occurred: 1) with no potential to harm the patient, 2) that could harm the patient, but did not, and 3) that were caught and corrected before harming the patient. Pharmacists' perceptions of the three patient safety culture domains (i.e., managers' actions to promote safety, teamwork, staffing) were assessed by calculating positive response percentages, with higher percentages indicating positive perceptions of their institutions' safety culture. Descriptive statistics and bivariate and mixed effects multivariate regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

When an error occurred, it was always reported by 32.0% of pharmacists if the error could have harmed the patient, 17.6% of pharmacists if the error had no potential to harm the patient, and 12.3% of pharmacists if it was corrected before reaching the patient. Higher near-miss error reporting frequency was significantly associated with positive perceptions related to managers' actions to promote safety, teamwork, and staffing if the error could have harmed the patient (OR 1.50; OR 1.27; OR 1.18, p < 0.05 respectively) and errors that were caught/corrected before reaching the patient (OR 1.32, OR 1.26, OR 1.07, p < 0.05 respectively).

CONCLUSION

Differences in reporting frequency suggests that pharmacists may prioritize near-miss error reporting based on perceived importance. A positive work environment was associated with higher near-miss error reporting rates.