A Study on Organizational Factors Affecting Midwifery Errors from the Viewpoint of Midwives in Educational Hospitals and Health Centers of Tehran, 2014

Midwifery errors are associated with a multitude of maternal and fetal problems with fatal consequences. Hence, identifying related factors is of special value. The present study was carried out to identify the organizational factors of these errors from the viewpoint of midwives working in educational hospital and health centers of Tehran.
This descriptive study included 252 midwives working in educational hospital and health center affiliated with Tehran, Shahid Beheshti and Iran Universities. Data gathering was performed using a researcher-designed questionnaire, the face validity and content of which was confirmed by calculating its CVR and CVI indices. Reliability of the instrument was approved by test-retest and calculation of Chronbach's alpha. The SPSS.V.16 software was used to analyze the data.
Findings: The rate of midwifery errors among theses midwives and/or their colleagues was 69.8%. The majority (82.9%) of them believed that errors will be reported and 69.8% believed that the form of error report will be completed. The Organizational factors of midwifery errors were prioritized as follows: work overload, occupational stressors, neglecting psychological safety of midwives, stated by subjects of this study. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of score of organizational factors.
It seems that proper planning and efforts to improve the organizational factors can play a significant role in decreasing the occurrence of midwifery errors.