Medication errors are “the most common single preventable cause of adverse events in medical practice” [1]. According to the Institute Of Medicine report (IOM, 1999 ), as high as 98,000 patients die in hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors [2] which makes medical errors the second leading cause of death in US. . The report further estimates that, medical errors cost the nation approximately $37.6 Billion each year; about $17 billion of those costs are associated with preventable errors. Medication incidents are commonplace in healthcare [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In Australian study, out of over 14,000 admission records reviewed, 16.6% of admissions were associated with an "adverse event",[6]. A study by Ahmed E Aboshaiqah …show more content…
Safety culture is defined as “the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation’s health and safety management. Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterized; by communications founded on mutual trust and by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures” [13]. Consistent with this definition, high reliability organizations, where the concept of safety culture first emerged, have some common attributes: a firm commitment to continuous quality improvement, learning from errors, and the ability to adapt to change positively [14], a fact that further substantiates the critical role of the organizational culture in reducing the rate of adverse events, and building safer systems. A study by Sara Singer et al associates better safety climate overall, and the existence of a non-punitive environment, with a lower relative incidence of selected patient safety indicators [15], while another study links lower safety climate and higher readmission rates [16].
Considering the high cost of medical errors in terms of human lives and loss of trust in health care systems, patient safety has become a major area for improvement in health care organizations to mitigate or reduce the incidence of preventable medical errors [2]. The purpose of this study is to assess the current organizational safety culture in NCCCR and HH as perceived by employees, and to assess the impact of the organizational culture on medication error reporting.