Do you feel safe reporting errors?

[sweetdreame]

I am doing DNP research on culture of safety and implications of disruptive and inappropriate behaviors in the clinical setting.

We know that often, several errors lead up to a critical or sentinel event occurring. The key to prevention is for staff to feel empowered and safe enough to report "near-misses" or opportunities for improvement.

The question I have for you is: in your job, do you feel safe enough to report...or do you feel you will be somehow reprimanded? Is there a "blame culture" on your unit?

[rpsychnurse]

I feel incredibly safe reporting errors/near misses/incidents of any kind. I do work in Canada, however, and I think we have it a bit better here in this way.

We have a great online reporting system for incidents affecting patients where you can choose to remain anonymous to your direct manager - I've never known anyone to feel the need to do that though. I find that our health care system works well with staff to deal with adverse incidents.

We are also unionized throughout my province, which is another huge help.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I am a CNM in a public health clinic, not a floor nurse. But I (and my staff) are very supported in reporting errors. My clinic is part of a larger affiliate, and our list of "reportable events" is pretty extensive and definitely not limited to medical errors. It is clearly geared towards finding systems errors and improving patient care.

I made a significant mistake in my first few months there. There was nothing even remotely punitive about reporting and processing the error. I have helped my colleagues and staff with their own mistakes as well. I honestly think this is one of the keys to my organization's success, both in providing high quality care and in keeping all of us happy in our jobs.

[heronurse]

If I know that error will truely harm my patient, Yes but management encourages everyone to report it so you can find the root of the cause but silently stabs you in the back.

[Scrubs_n_sirens, MSN, RN]

We can do anonymous reporting via an RL6 software. I feel very safe reporting

[Axgrinder]

Not only no, but heck no. That's pretty sad I'll agree, however I've witnessed some pretty punitive action taken against nurses in the past 22 years, and if that doesn't color your perspective stance on a subject then I'm not sure what would.

I don't work in an area that passes Rx meds any more (I do telephone triage) so the odds of clinical errors are less for me - not to say the chances are zero - but it is not something I ever felt comfortable with.

The odd thing about my opinion regarding reporting errors is that I am always the first to tell on myself to my supervisor when I do make a mistake - but telling on someone else seems more taboo to me. Not to say that I wouldn't alert the appropriate person if a colleague was unsafe or unfit for duty, but it would sure torment me. I guess it boils down to Karma: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto yourself," I don't enjoy double daring the universe.

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

Yes. My facility is working hard to support a culture of safety that relies on self reporting. They use self reporting as a tool for finding problems with the process. Then focus on fixing the process instead of punishing the person.

Meanwhile it is hard to get the old timers on board with this idea. They don't trust it and they are scared that it will backfire on them. I don't blame them. I'm sure they've seen it happen before. Meanwhile I do as much as I can to be the change agent.

I like remind them that if they report an issue they are not "writing them up". They are alerting management that there is a breakdown in the process. We've been doing this for about a year and so far it is working very well. Once people start to realize they aren't "getting in trouble" they're on board with helping make changes. I'm fortunate that I work in a place where management recognizes that people work better as a team if you treat them with respect.