Nurses fearing retaliation don’t report medication errors, near misses

Fear of retaliation or receiving poor grades prevented nurses and nursing students, respectively, from reporting medication errors and near misses, a study found. Published in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Journal of Patient Safety, the systematic, mixed-methods review aimed to identify factors influencing nurses’ decisions to report medication errors and near misses. The authors included 42 studies from December 1990 to December 2023. The expected reaction of superiors, colleagues and patients was the primary factor influencing nurses’ decision to report. The authors said managers should develop strategies to encourage nurses to report without fear of blaming. They called for more research to study factors influencing reporting among novice nurses, as well as to investigate sociodemographic and professional factors that could influence underreporting. (AHRQ Journal of Patient Safety article, 9/25/24)