Medication administration error reporting rate and perceived barriers among nurses in Turkey

Abstract

This study was planned to determine the barriers perceived by nurses in medication administration error (MAE) reporting. The data of this descriptive and crosssectional study were collected between January and April 2017. The universe of the study consisted of nurses working in two hospitals in Turkey (N=547). The sample of the study consisted of nurses who met the inclusion criteria of the study and agreed to participate in the study (n=253). The overall response rate is 64%. 90.5% of nurses are women. The mean age of the nurses was 33.5 years. Their mean nursing experience was 10.4 years (SD 8.43 years). Of the study population, only 32% experienced a medication administration error during their working lives and who had a medication error experience, 23.5% reported their error. The most common perceived barriers among nurses are “heavy workload” (81.4%), “fear of being accused by supervisor” (80.6%) and “management believes that medication administration error is caused by individual factors rather than system factors” (80.2%). It was observed that the nurses made a medication administration error, but the majority were not reported.