Barriers of Medication Administration Error Reporting in Neonatal and Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Introduction: Medication administration error is the most common type of error in the field of medicine which is a risk factor for neonatal safety. These errors should be reported in order to prevent or mitigate their occurrence. In this regard, the present study aimed to determine the barriers of reporting medication administration errors from the point of view of nurses in neonatal and neonatal intensive care units. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 157 nurses who were selected using the census sampling method. The participants were nurses of neonatal and neonatal intensive care units in the hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Moreover, the required data were collected using the second part of the Medication Administration Error Reporting Survey whose psychometric properties (content validity, face validity, construct validity, and reliability) were determined beforehand. Results: Results of factor analysis indicated the fitness of the data of the Persian version of the scale with 16 items and four factors. Based on the findings, from the point of view of nurses, “fear” and “administrative response” were the most important barriers to reporting errors, in that order. The most and least common fears of nurses were the fear of negative perceptions and complaints of the family of patients (4.95±1.28) and the fear of reprimand by physicians (3.22±1.43), respectively. Moreover, the most important barrier in reporting the errors concerning the administrative response was the lack of positive feedback regarding the correct medication administration (4.22±1.62). Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that from the viewpoint of nurses, fear and administrative response are barriers to reporting medication administration errors.