Abstract
Background
Little work has explored the disclosure of errors in nursing homes (NHs).
Purpose
This paper reports how nurses would disclose hypothetical errors that occur in NH
settings.
Method
A cross-sectional survey was given to a randomly selected sample of registered nurses
(RNs) and registered practical nurses (RPNs) working in Ontario, Canada NHs.
Results
Of 1,180 respondents, only half might provide full details and the cause of the error
and provide steps in how the error would be prevented if they were in situations described
by the hypothetical scenarios. Scenarios that were less serious had an almost 3 times
higher likelihood of an explicit apology (OR 2.97; 95% CI 1.36-6.51; P = 0.007). Nurses who were RNs, had more education, had a prior history of disclosing
a serious error, and agreed with full disclosure were more likely to respond to disclosing
more information about the error. Nurses also reported numerous barriers to effective
disclosure in their workplace.
Conclusion
Improvements in NH safety culture are necessary to enhance the error disclosure process.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 23, 2012
Accepted:
May 29,
2012
Received in revised form:
May 6,
2012
Received:
February 13,
2012
Footnotes
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research funded this study.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
