Reporting Medication Errors

Dirik, H. F., Samur, M., Seren Intepeler, S., & Hewison, A. (2019). Nurses’ identification and reporting of medication errors. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(5-6), 931–938. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14716

This article focuses on nurses and what they consider to be a medication error and whether or not it is reported. A medication error is defined as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate use of medication or patient harm, while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient or consumer in the literature. A study was conducted to determine what nurses would consider as a medication error, things such as missed doses or medications administered outside of the scheduled time. Then, it was determined if the errors that were made were reported as such. The results of the study were that nurses were able to recognize medication errors but were often hesitant to report such errors. This article was included because the end result was to motivate nurses to report medication errors. Knowing what errors are being made helps to provide education for all nurses in the future, or make corrections as needed. 

Sun-Joo, & Lee. (2021). Perceptions of patient safety culture and medicaiton error reporting among early and mid-career female nurses in South Korea. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4853. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094853

This article sets out to determine how early and mid-career female nurses differ in perceptions of patient safety culture and medication error reporting. The study used existing data but compiled into one survey to determine results. The results determined that nurses early in their career are 2.4x more likely to report medication errors if they rank their patient safety culture as high. For mid-career nurses, patient safety culture was not a factor in whether medication errors were reported. Overall, medication error reporting was low whether mid or early career. However, mid-career nurses reported more medication errors than early career nurses. This article highlights the need for emphasis to be placed on the importance of medication error reporting in how it relates to patient safety. This article was included as a resource to help nurses self-reflect on factors that may affect how their medication errors are reported and provide education on the importance of reporting in relation to patient safety.

Yang, R., Pepper, G. A., Wang, H., Liu, T., Wu, D., & Jiang, Y. (2020). The mediating role of power distance and face-saving on nurses’ fear of medication error reporting: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103494

This article is to determine the lack of self-reporting medication errors and the reasons nurses do not want to self-report their errors. Nurses in a hospital setting were interviewed to determine what their personal reasons were for not wanting to report their medication errors. The two most important factors for why nurses did not want to report medication errors were power distance, their place in the professional hierarchy, and face-saving, not wanting to be embarassed in front of peers. This study sought to put an emphasis on patient safety, providing education on the benefit to the patient, in order to motivate nursing staff to report medication errors. This is an important resource for reflection on why nurses may not want to report their own medication errors as well as the benefits to reporting.