Missing chances to learn: a case study of barriers to near-miss reporting in a hospital

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers of near miss (NM) reporting among healthcare workers in a governmental hospital in Saudi Arabia.Design/methodology/approachThis is a mixed methods study, composed of a survey, followed by a set of semi-structured interviews which were conducted to get a more in depth understanding of some of the aspects covered in the questionnaire.FindingsThe research shows that the main barrier to reporting NMs in the hospital is a fear of professional and departmental consequences. Differences between employee groups are evident in their perceptions, special attention should be given to that when developing a programme to improve reporting.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the sample size may not be representative of the hospital’s population, because the response rate from nurses was significantly higher than from professional groups. Second, the questionnaire only captures the perceptions of employees about these barriers and not the actual barriers. Those who did not respond to the questionnaires might hold different views to those who responded, providing bias in the results.Practical implicationsThese findings show that a focus on NMs in particular is lacking in Saudi Arabia, despite the valuable learning opportunities they may hold. Better understanding of these factors is likely to aid hospital leaders in talking the barriers identified, so that the potential of NM reports can be maximised to improve hospital systems.Originality/valueThis research draws attention to the attitudes of healthcare workers to NM reporting, most previous studies were focussed on the barriers of adverse events or error reporting in general, rather than NMs.