Identifying, understanding, and overcoming barriers to medication error and near miss reporting in Nova Scotia hospitals

Medication errors and patient safety are an area of growing concern throughout Canada and the world. The under-reporting of medication-related adverse events ranges from 50 to 96%, and medication errors are a type of medication-related adverse event that deserve attention. Reporting medication errors provides information that can be used to figure out what causes the errors. Understanding the causes of medication errors could help identify the type of resources needed to prevent these problems from happening. The information from error reports could also lead to the discovery of areas needing improvement. Without reports of medication errors and near misses, chances to improve patient safety are missed. Through the use of focus groups and surveys given to doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in Nova Scotia, this research will add to the current knowledge about barriers to medication error and near miss reporting in health care organizations, will identify processes that can be used to overcome these barriers, and will provide recommendations for improvement based on "smart practices" from organizations. If policy and decision makers know what either encourages or discourages a health professional from reporting a medication error, steps can be taken to improve reporting, and, as a result, prevent future errors and improve patient safety.