Barriers to Reporting Medication Administration Errors among Nurses in an Accredited Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Aims: The purpose of this study is to identify the main barriers in reporting Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) among multicultural registered nurses in Saudi Arabia and also to explore the relationship between the nurses’ demographic variables and their perception of reporting MAEs.

Study Design: This study was based on a questionnaire survey.

Methodology: This is a cross sectional study, whereby responses were collected from 300 nurses of King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Stratified sampling of nurses was employed for selecting the samples to represent the nine specialized hospitals. The data was collected by meeting the customers face to face. Every question was explained to respondents so that nurses can understand the requirement of each barrier considered. The data collected was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 21.

Results: Administrative response was the main perceived barrier to MAE reporting, followed by fear barriers. The significant administrative barriers include emphasizing the MAE as measure of the quality of nursing care provided, and focusing on the individual rather than looking at the systems as a potential cause of the error. It is observed that nurses with bachelor degree and non-Saudis exhibit higher perception levels of barriers in reporting MAE. However, other demographic factors such as age, gender, experience and attending the training and orientation programs are not significantly related to the overall barriers in reporting MAE.