(138) Barriers and Facilitators in Reporting Medication Errors: A Nurse's Perspective

Publication Number: 1183

Background: Medication errors have serious implications not only patient safety but also on the one who has committed. Understanding and addressing the emotional implications on voluntary reporting of medication errors will not only improve the Quality of reporting but also patient safety itself.

Objectives: To study the barriers and facilitators in reporting medication errors amongst the nursing staff.

Methods: A descriptive, questionnaire (validated) based study was carried out in a teaching hospital of developing country. The nursing staff were approached and the aim of the survey was explained. The google form was created with the validated questions and the link was shared with the nursing staff. The questionnaire consisted of a section about the background information and qualifications, eight items on barriers to reporting, and five items on facilitators of reporting an error. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the collected data. The data is presented categorically and represented as n (%).

Results: A total of 398 nurses responded to the study, of which 346 (86.93%) were females and 52 (13.06%) were males. The majority [118 (29.64%)] had 5-10 years of nursing experience. The most significant barriers to medication error reporting, according to nurses, are prioritising reporting only serious errors [241 (60.55%)], a lack of peer support [74 (18.59%)], and fear of consequences after reporting an error [64 (16.08%)]. Other barriers identified were lack of trust in the reporting system [57 (14.32%)]; the process of reporting an error is time-consuming [66 (16.58%)]. The study participants acknowledged that professional encouragement [307 (77.13%)] was the major facilitating factor for reporting an error. Also, developing a feedback mechanism for the reported errors that focuses on the system and not on any individuals [302 (75.87%)], a "no-blame" culture [291 (73.11%)], and support and encouragement from the multi-disciplinary team [272 (68.34%)] are the other facilitating factors identified.

Conclusions: It is important to create a consistent environment for nurses to feel safe and confident reporting medication errors without fearing the consequences. Adopting an one to one counselling with systematic approach to medication error reporting, improves the quality of medication error reporting rates and patient safety. Clinical Pharmacists can act as a liaison between Doctors and Nurses while addressing the errors.