Aged-care nurses in rural Tasmanian clinical settings more likely to think hypothetical medication error would be reported and disclosed compared to hospital and community nurses

OBJECTIVE This study aims to determine the likelihood that rural nurses perceive a hypothetical medication error would be reported in their workplace. DESIGN This employs cross-sectional survey using hypothetical error scenario with varying levels of harm. SETTING Clinical settings in rural Tasmania. PARTICIPANTS Participants were 116 eligible surveys received from registered and enrolled nurses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Frequency of responses indicating the likelihood that severe, moderate and near miss (no harm) scenario would 'always' be reported or disclosed. RESULTS Eighty per cent of nurses viewed a severe error would 'always' be reported, 64.8% a moderate error and 45.7% a near-miss error. In regards to disclosure, 54.7% felt this was 'always' likely to occur for a severe error, 44.8% for a moderate error and 26.4% for a near miss. Across all levels of severity, aged-care nurses were more likely than nurses in other settings to view error to 'always' be reported (ranging from 72-96%, P = 0.010 to 0.042,) and disclosed (68-88%, P = 0.000). Those in a management role were more likely to view error to 'always' be disclosed compared to those in a clinical role (50-77.3%, P = 0.008-0.024). CONCLUSION Further research in rural clinical settings is needed to improve the understanding of error management and disclosure.