Medical Errors and Barriers to Reporting in Ten Hospitals in Southern Iran

Background: International research shows that medical errors (MEs) are a major threat to patient safety. The present study aimed to describe MEs and barriers to reporting them in Shiraz public hospitals, Iran.
Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted in 10 Shiraz public hospitals in the south of Iran, 2013. Using the standardised checklist of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (referred to the Clinical Governance Department and recorded documentations) and Uribe questionnaire, we gathered the data in the hospitals.
Results: A total of 4379 MEs were recorded in 10 hospitals. The highest frequency (27.1%) was related to systematic errors. Besides, most of the errors had occurred in the largest hospital (54.9%), internal wards (36.3%), and morning shifts (55.0%). The results revealed a significant association between the MEs and wards and hospitals (p < 0.001). Moreover, individual and organisational factors were the barriers to reporting ME in the studied hospitals. Also, a significant correlation was observed between the ME reporting barriers and the participants’ job experiences (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The medical errors were highly frequent in the studied hospitals especially in the larger hospitals, morning shift and in the nursing practice. Moreover, individual and organisational factors were considered as the barriers to reporting MEs.

Keywords
medical errors; hospital incident reporting; refusal to participate; hospitals; Iran