Objectives:
To assess knowledge, attitudes and practices towards the reporting of medication errors among health practitioners at King Abdulaziz Medical city in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted in a convenient sample of 62 physicians and 303 nurses, between June and September 2017 at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Results:
The sample consisted of 365 subjects, with a response rate of 73%. Approximately 97% had sufficient knowledge and a favorable attitude (90%) towards medication error reporting. With regard to reporting practices, some participants (21.6%) preferred to educate those who made a medication error, rather than reporting it. Approximately 44.8% had not reported medication errors during their work experience.
Conclusion:
Study participants demonstrated a sufficient knowledge base with regard to medication error reporting. Despite sufficient knowledge and favorable attitudes towards medication error reporting, there is still an under-reporting of medication errors when it comes to practice. We recommend the establishment of frequent medication safety courses as a prerequisite for all health care providers. We also advocate the application of error detecting alarms such as digital programs to minimize medication errors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.