Barriers and Facilitators of Voluntary Medication Errors Reporting According to the Nursing Staff in India

Abstract

Introduction: Medication errors (MEs) are common among nursing staff due to the fear or lack of knowledge and time in reporting MEs. Objective: This study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators of voluntary ME reporting according to the nursing staff in India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 398 nurses of a hospital in India, working in three different shifts with various specialties, who were selected by a convenience sampling method. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data which was prepared in Google Forms. The chi-square test was used to determine whether there was any statistical difference among the responses. Results: Results showed that 87% of nurses were female and 13% were male. The majority were at an age range of 31–40 years (44.9%) and had good knowledge of MEs and the reporting system in the hospital (96.2%). Regarding the barriers, 29.9% (P<0.001) were a beginner in using the reporting system, while 70% had prior experience with the system; 85.4% (P=0.024) reported the lack of a relaxing working environment, 54.7% (P=0.031) reported burnout, 27.6% (P=0.0001) reported personnel problems, 21.6% (P<0.001) reported peer pressure and so on. Receiving support and encouragement from the multi-disciplinary team (91.7%), receiving feedback for the reported MEs that focuses on the system and not on the individuals (90.7%), professional encouragement for the reported MEs (90.4%), and developing a “no-blame” culture (86.9%) were the facilitators of the voluntary ME reporting by the nursing staffs (none of them were statistically significant). Conclusion: Although it is impractical to eliminate all MEs, the engagement of nursing staff is essential in ME reduction and prevention.