Relationship between Patient Safety Culture and the Medication Errors between Nurses Working in Educational and Medical Centers of Ardabil and Khalkhal, 2020

One of the most important issues in the health sector, especially in medical centers, is the quality of care. The quality of care consists of a set of elements, among which patient safety is one of the most important. Nursing error, which is an unintentional error, affects the safety and quality of patient care. This study was performed to determine the relationship between patient safety culture and medication errors of nurses in Ardabil and Khalkhal hospitals.

This was a correlational study conducted in 2020. The study population included all nurses working in Ardabil and Khalkhal educational and medical centers, among them 300 samples were randomly selected. To collect data, the standard questionnaire of patient safety culture and self-made medication error tool were used. Data analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman tests using SPSS software version 16.

The results showed that the mean score of safety culture was 144.94 14 ±14.82 and the mean score of drug error were 38.96 6±6.04, which indicates the mean status of safety culture and less medication error, respectively. In regard to marital status, single nurses (p=0.001), working in surgery room (p=0.001) and people with promissory employment status (p=0.001) had fewer errors. There was an inverse relationship between age (p=0.001), work experience (p=0.001) and patient safety culture (p=0.001) with the rate of medication error.

The results of this study indicated that the high level of patient safety culture can reduce medication error. Therefore, health officials and hospitals, by holding classes and workshops and briefing programs, should work to promote patient safety culture in staffs of hospitals including doctors and nurses.