Physicians' knowledge and practice towards medical error reporting: a cross-sectional hospital-based study in Saudi Arabia.

Identifying reasons for under-reporting is crucial in reducing the incidence of medical errors. We studied physicians' knowledge of the occurrence, frequency and causes of medical errors and their actual practice toward reporting them. A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire was answered by 107 physicians at a tertiary-care hospital in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire had 6 sections covering demographic data, knowledge, attitudes and practice towards reporting medical errors, perceived causes of and frequency of medical errors in their hospital and personal experiences of medical error reporting. Physicians tended not to report medical errors when no harm had occurred to patients. One-third of respondents feared punitive actions if they reported errors and only 56.4% felt that error reporting had led to positive changes in overall care. A majority of errors were related to late interventions and misdiagnosis. Under-reporting of medical errors was common in this hospital. Physicians did not appreciate attempts to improve the system of error reporting and a culture of blame still prevailed.

Physicians' knowledge and practice towards medical error reporting: a cross-sectional hospital-based study in Saudi Arabia

Identifying reasons for under-reporting is crucial in reducing the incidence of medical errors. We studied physicians' knowledge of the occurrence,frequency and causes of medical errors and their actual practice toward reporting them. A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire was answered by 107 physicians at a tertiary-care hospital in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire had 6 sections covering demographic data,knowledge, attitudes and practice towards reporting medical errors, perceived causes of and frequency of medical errors in their hospital and personal experiences of medical error reporting. Physicians tended not to report medical errors when no harm had occurred to patients. One-third of respondents feared punitive actions if they reported errors and only 56.4% felt that error reporting had led to positive changes in overall care. A majority of errors were related to late interventions and misdiagnosis. Under-reporting of medical errors was common in this hospital. Physicians did not appreciate attempts to improve the system of error reporting and a culture of blame still prevailed

L'identification des raisons de la sous-notification est cruciale pour reduire l'incidence des erreurs medicales. Nous avons etudie les connaissances des medecins sur la survenue, la frequence et les causes des erreurs medicales ainsi que leur pratique reelle en termes de notification. Un autoquestionnaire transversal a ete rempli par 107 medecins dans un hopital de soins tertiaires en Arabie saoudite. Le questionnaire presentait six sections couvrant les donnees demographiques, les connaissances, les attitudes et les pratiques vis-a-vis de la notification des erreurs medicales, les causes percues et la frequence des erreurs medicales dans leur hopital ainsi que les experiences personnelles en matiere de notification. Les medecins avaient tendance a ne pas notifier les erreurs medicales lorsque les patients n'avaient souffert d'aucun dommage. Un tiers des repondants craignaient les actions punitives s'ils notifiaient des erreurs et seuls 56,4 % pensaient que la notification des erreurs entrainait des modifications positives pour l'ensemble des soins. Une majorite d'erreurs etait liee a des interventions tardives et des erreurs de diagnostic. La sous-notification des erreurs medicales etait frequente dans cet hopital. Les medecins ne percevaient pas positivement les tentatives d'amelioration du systeme de notification des erreurs et la culture du blame restait prevalente