The Relationship of Work Environment, Patient Safety Culture, and the Medication Errors among Nurses

The quality of care consists of several factors, one of the most important ofwhich is patient safety. Nursing error, which is an unintentional error, affects the safety andquality of patient care. This study aimed to determine the relationship between patient safetyculture, work environment index, and medication errors. This is a cross-sectional study in which 300 nurses were enrolled using stratifiedproportional sampling. The standard questionnaires of patient safety culture, workenvironment index, and self-made medication error were used to collect data. Data analysiswas performed using Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman tests through SPSSsoftware version 22. The mean scores of nurse work environment, patient safety culture, and medicationerror were 74.41±15.6, 144.94±14.82, and 38.96±6.04, respectively. A good relationshipbetween physician and nurse, sufficient number of nurses, and good patient safety culturewere directly related to reduction of medication errors. The results of this study indicated that the high level of patient safety culture andimprovement of the work environment of nurses can reduce medication errors. Therefore, byholding classes, workshops, and briefing programs, health managers can promote the patientsafety culture in hospitals.