Research Plus

Nursing errors – predictive factors

A questionnaire-based study of 6,445 hospital nurses, who all worked shifts, found that various common personal and workplace factors were associated with medical errors and incidents. Four in five nurses (79%) reported that they had made a medical error (defined as non-negligent events or events without adverse side effects) or experienced a medical incident (where the error had been detected in a timely manner and/or corrective action taken). Errors and incidents were best predicted by: absence due to sickness in the previous six months (50% more accidents/incidents); currently treated for illness (20% more); and working in wards rather than outpatients (77% more).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21372434

Tags absence evidence based practice shiftwork sickness absence

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2011 (vol. 08/1) pp41