Examination of the medical error tendencies of midwives and nurses working in maternity clinics

Abstract

Aim: This research was conducted descriptively to determine the medical error tendencies of midwives and nurses working in maternity clinics and the factors affecting them. Materials and Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 135 midwives and nurses who agreed to participate in the study between January 2022 and February 2023. The Medical Error Tendency Scale in Nursing (METSN) and a descriptive information form developed by the researchers in line with the literature were used for data collection. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied for data analysis. Results: The average age of the midwives and nurses participating in the study was 28.88±6.0 years, and the average duration of work was 5.84±5.9 years. It was determined that 25.4% of midwives and nurses made medical errors, and 57.8% witnessed medical errors. The mean total score of METSN was 226.20±31.78 (min-max: 126-245), and the mean scores of the sub-dimensions of the scale were determined as 84.27±10.23 for the "Medication and Transfusion Practices" sub-dimension, 55.30±9.88 for the "Prevention of Infections" subdimension, 22.82±4.36 for the "Prevention of Falls" sub-dimension, 40.93±6.12 for the "Patient Monitoring and Material Device Safety" sub-dimension, and 22.87±4.38 for the "Communication" subdimension. Conclusion: In our study, it was found that one-fourth of midwives and nurses made medical errors, and the risk of making medical errors was higher in midwives and nurses who had previously made medical errors and witnessed medical errors. The high rates of medical error tendencies and witnessing medical errors detected in our study indicate that there is a high tendency for medical errors in maternity clinics.