Assessment of Medication Administration Error Reporting Among Hospital Nurses in Indonesia

Nurses play a vital role in the maintenance and promotion of patient safety, as well as medication administration in hospitals.  In one small state government-owned hospital in South Jakarta, medication errors were the most reported type of patient safety incidents accounting for 52.5% of incidents which occurred within 2016 to September 2018. Nonetheless, only a small percentage (9.25%) of those reports was presented by nurses. The present study aimed to determine the factors associated with medication administration error (MAE) reporting among nurses. A cross-sectional study, followed by qualitative research, was conducted at a state government-owned hospital in Jakarta Indonesia within November 2018-April 2019.  Total sampling was used to obtain the 44 clinical nurses included in the quantitative study. The qualitative study used focus group discussion and in-depth interviews of selected informants. Consequences of reporting was found to be correlated with MAE reporting among nurses (P=0.013). There was no statistically significant organizational factor or socio-demographic characteristic associated with medication administration error reporting. Through qualitative measures, the factors that most influenced and inhibited error reporting included administrative response and the consequences of reporting. Moreover, managers’ support, understanding and self- awareness of the importance of reporting, and a non-blaming culture were recognized as the factors which support error reporting. As evidenced by the obtained results, medication administration error reporting is still low.  Reporting incidents can be improved by fostering a non-blaming safety culture. Further studies are recommended to investigate the occurrence of medication errors, as well as reported errors.