American Journal of Advances in Nursing Research

PERCEPTION OF REGISTERED NURSES REGARDING CLINICAL ERROR REPORTING

Harjeet Kaur and Rohini Sharma

harjeet_k@apollohospitalsdelhi.com

Clinical Error, Incident Reporting, Perception, Registered Nurse (RN)

Patient safety is a concern worldwide and is a significant challenge faced by healthcare systems today. Clinical incident reporting has an important role in the area of risk management in the healthcare setting with regard to inconsistencies that may exist within the routine organizational operations or patient care. So, in this concern, an exploratory study was conducted on 70 registered nurses to assess the perception of registered nurses regarding clinical error reporting in New Delhi. Majority of RNs agree that understaffing, heavy work load and fatigue, lack of formalized pathway for communication or error feedback structure is the main cause of error occurrence. Man y RNs have neutral perception that non – uniformity in standardization of care and lack of professional support causes errors. Most of the RNs disagree to lack of complete patient information and lack of professional responsibility and accountability is the cause of error occurrence. Maximum of RNs agree that time constraints, inappropriate reaction of the authorities regarding the severity of the error, reporting near misses can facilitate a blame free approach, and fear of loss of physician’s confidence are the reasons for not reporting the errors. Most of the RNs disagree to lack of knowledge and skill in how to report errors. Majority of RNs have neutral opinion that defected safety culture, embarrassment being recognized as incompetent, loss of reputation/status and disclosure is also an element that contributes to the creation of a culture of safety is the reason why errors are not reported .