A Comparative Study of Barriers to Reporting Medication Errors in Nursing Students in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Medication errors are influential on patientsf safety and expenses during hospitalization and often have hazardous consequences for patients. Since the clinical experience of nursing students is limited, they may unintentionally be exposed to medication errors. Hence, the present study aimed to determine the barriers of reporting medication errors among nursing students of Azad Islamic and Medical Sciences Universities of Zahedan, Iran. The present study was a descriptive-analytical and comparative research which was carried out in 2013. A sample of 188 students was selected with a simple random sampling approach. The 17-item questionnaire on lack of reporting medication errors from nursing students viewpoints was employed for data collection. Data analysis was carried out using t-test and descriptive statistics through SPSS software. The mean scores of fear of the consequences of reporting errors, and managerial factors of medication errors among nursing students of Medical Sciences University and Azad Islamic University were 38.28} 7.58 and 14.30} 3.73, and 34.25 9.95 and 12.72 4.39, respectively. The results of t-test indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P. 0.05). Discussion and Medical errors are one of the major problems in health care centers. This study suggests that the method of reducing and controlling these errors is based upon using a systematic approach for the evaluation and removal of these factors, and designing a system to increase reporting of medication errors among nursing students.