Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (May 2024)

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

  • Alrasheeday AM,
  • Alkubati SA,
  • Alrubaiee GG,
  • Alqalah TA,
  • Alshammari B,
  • Abdullah SO,
  • Loutfy A

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 2601 – 2612

Abstract

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Awatif M Alrasheeday,1 Sameer A Alkubati,2,3 Gamil G Alrubaiee,4,5 Talal A Alqalah,2 Bushra Alshammari,2 Saleh O Abdullah,3 Ahmed Loutfy6,7 1Nursing Administration Department, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Nursing, Hodeidah University, Hodeida, Yemen; 4Department of Community Health, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Community Health, Al Razi University, Sanaa, Yemen; 6Maternal and Child Nursing Department, College of Nursing, University of Hail, Hail, 2440, Saudi Arabia; 7Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Fujairah, Fujairah, 1207, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Sameer A Alkubati, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966506575284, Email [email protected]: 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.Keywords: nurse, medication error, reporting, barrier, patient safety, Saudi Arabia

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