Abstract:
Background: Medication administration is the final step/phase of medication process in which its error directly
affects the patient health. Due to the central role of nurses in medication administration, whether they are the
source of an error, a contributor, or an observer they have the professional, legal and ethical responsibility to recognize
and report. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of medication administration error reporting
and associated factors among nurses working at The University of Gondar Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.
Methods: Institution based quantitative cross - sectional study was conducted among 282 Nurses. Data were collected
using semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire of the Medication Administration Errors Reporting (MAERs).
Binary logistic regression with 95 % confidence interval was used to identify factors associated with medication
administration errors reporting.
Results: The estimated medication administration error reporting was found to be 29.1 %. The perceived rates of
medication administration errors reporting for non-intravenous related medications were ranged from 16.8 to 28.
6 % and for intravenous-related from 20.6 to 33.4 %. Education status (AOR =1.38, 95 % CI: 4.009, 11.128), disagreement
over time - error definition (AOR = 0.44, 95 % CI: 0.468, 0.990), administrative reason (AOR = 0.35, 95 % CI: 0.168, 0.710)
and fear (AOR = 0.39, 95 % CI: 0.257, 0.838) were factors statistically significant for the refusal of reporting medication
administration errors at p-value <0.05.
Conclusion: In this study, less than one third of the study participants reported medication administration errors.
Educational status, disagreement over time - error definition, administrative reason and fear were factors statistically
significant for the refusal of errors reporting at p-value <0.05. Therefore, the results of this study suggest strategies that
enhance the cultures of error reporting such as providing a clear definition of reportable errors and strengthen the
educational status of nurses by the health care organization.
Keywords: Errors reporting, Medication administration, Nurses
