Related factors of medication errors and barriers of their reporting in the medical staff in hospitals of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences

Medication errors as a global problem can lead to serious injury and even the patients’ death. The errors will have a negative impact on patients, medical personnel and organizations, resulting in decreased quality of care. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with drug error and barriers of their reporting.

In this descriptive and analytic study, 150 medical staff with a minimum experience of 6 months in the hospitals affiliated to Gonabad University of Medical Sciences were selected by census sampling in 2011. The data were collected by a demographic form and medication error questionnaire which included occurrence and report of errors, related factors, and barriers in reporting them. Content validity and Cronbach›s alpha coefficients (α=0.81) were used for validity and reliability, respectively. The data were analyzed by SPSS software V.16 using descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

The mean age of participants and their work experience were 30.63 and 6.5 years, respectively. Majority of them were women (70%), married (82%) and nurses (78%) with a mean error reporting 1.15. Most factors associated with the occurrence of errors were the altered doctor›s orders, high workload, and lack of staff. Further, the barriers of reporting of errors included lack of clear guidelines for reporting errors, barriers of staff, and management barriers.

According to the importance of patient safety, it is recommended that managers provide interventions to reduce errors in health care workers and if errors occur, they should offer a recording system for reporting them without fearing of the consequences.