The Factors Affecting the Refusal to Report Medical Errors on Medical Errors among Nurses of Selected Military Hospitals in Tehran, Iran

Medical error is an important challenge for health systems. Developing reporting systems and addressing the obstacles to reporting errors is essential in order to improve the quality of health care services. This study aimed to survey the factors affecting the refusal to report medical errors from the nurses’ point of view using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in selected military hospitals of Tehran, Iran.
This is a descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional survey conducted in 2017. Data were collected using a systematic review and then a quantitative phase. The research population included nurses from 3 military hospitals, of which 269 were selected using Cochran's formula. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical analysis process using SPSS21.0 and Expert Choice 10.0 software.
Based on the systematic review findings, the factors influencing the refusal of reporting on medical errors were classified into three groups of management, process and nursing factors. Results indicate the most important reasons for refusal to report medical errors are: managerial factors (with importance coefficients of 0.669), factors related to the nurse (0.224), and factors related to the process of reporting (0.888).
Due to the high weight of management factors in refusing to report medical errors, hospital managers, and especially nursing directors, should remove these obstacles by expanding the culture of encouraging reporting in the organization.