Medical Error Types and Causes Made by Nurses in Turkey

Abstract

AIM: This study was carried out as a descriptive study in order to determine types, causes and prevalence of medical errors made by nurses in Turkey. METHOD: Seventy eight (78) nurses who have worked in a randomly selected hospital from five hospitals in Giresun city centre were enrolled in the study. The data was collected by the researchers using the ‘Information Form for Nurses’ and ‘Medical Error Form’. The Medical Error Form consists of 2 parts and 40 items including types and causes of medical errors. Nurses’ socio-demographic variables, medical error types and causes were evaluated using the percentage distribution and mean. RESULTS: The mean age of the nurses was 25.5 years, with a standard deviation 6.03 years. 50% of the nurses graduated health professional high school in the study. 53.8% of the nurses are single, 63.1% worked between 1-5 years, 71.8% day and night shifts and 42.3% in medical clinics. The common types of medical errors were hospital infection rate of 15.4%, diagnostic errors 12.8%, needle or cutting tool injuries and problems related to drug usage which has side effects 10.3%. In the study 38.5% of the nurses reported that they thought the cause of medical error highly was tiredness, 36.4% increased workload and 34.6% long working hours. CONCLUSION: As a result of the present study, nurses mentioned hospital infection, diagnostic errors, needle or cutting tool injuries as the most common medical errors and fatigue, over work load and long working hours as the most common medical error reasons. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2013; 12(3.000): 307-314

Evaluating medical errors made by nurses during their diagnosis, treatment and care practices

“…Accordingly, nurses play a significant role in preventing malpractice. However, this does not necessarily mean that nurses do not make errors; many medical errors are also known to be committed by nurses, and these errors may risk the health of patients (ICN , Alemdar & Aktaş , Kılıç & Elbaş Özhan ). Thus, this study is important because it determined the conditions surrounding nurses' medical errors as well as the frequency of medical errors and their reasons; consequently, this study's results can contribute to the prevention of or reduction in medical errors.…”

“…, Kapucu ), excessive workload, excessive number of monthly night shifts, stress, tasks outside of nursing (Özata & Altunkan , Cebeci et al . , Alemdar & Aktaş ), lack of communication within the healthcare team (Gökdoğan & Yorgun , Petrova ), lack of knowledge, occupational inexperience, carelessness, negligence (Ertem et al . ), difficult working conditions such as working with critically ill patients, intensive work stress, inadequate working conditions and shift working (Garetson , Petrova , Zencirci , Özata et al .…”

“…). In their study, Alemdar and Aktaş () determined that although nurses had higher scores on the medication and blood transfusion practices, they had a tendency to make medical errors regarding the prevention of falling. In the study by Evirgen et al .…”

İntörn Öğrencilerin Hasta Güvenliği Tutum ve Kültürlerinin Tıbbi Hata Durumlarına Etkisi

“…Hastanelerde en çok yapılan tıbbi hata türlerinin başında; ilaç hataları, hastane enfeksiyonları, yatak yaraları, tedavide gecikme veya tedavi yapmama, tanı koymada gerçekleşen hatalar ve ameliyat komplikasyonları gelmektedir (6,(23)(24)(25). Öğrenciler, hasta güvenliği denildiğinde; ilaç güvenliğinin sağlanması, hastane enfeksiyonlarının önlenmesi ve hasta düşmelerinin önlenmesi şeklinde özellikle 3 konu üzerinde durmaktadırlar (5).…”

A research on examination of medical errors through court judgments

“…In this study, medical errors in surgical departments and in gynecological and obstetric departments were found to occupy a significant place. According to the study done on the nurses by Alemdar and Aktaş (11), diagnostic mistakes are the second most important cause of medical errors. Giraldo et al (12) found that 25,1% of medical errors were based on diagnosis, and 22,2% were related to surgical practice in their study of court cases.…”