Identification the Level of Tendency in Malpractice Among Nurses

Objective: This study aims to determine the level the factors that affect medical errorproneness among nurses. Method: Sample of the descriptive and analytic study was composed of 161 voluntary nurses employed in a public hospital in May-August 2010 “Malpractice Trend Scale in Nursing” developed by Özata and Altunkan (2010) and “Nurse Identification Form” were used as data collection tools in the study. Descriptive data of the study was analyzed for percentages and averages and Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were utilized in data analysis. Results: Mean score for the scale was found to be 230.68±10.78 (between 49-245) and total scores for sub scales “Medicine and Transfusion Practices”, “Hospital Infections”, “Patient Monitoring and Material Safety”, “Falls” and “Communication” were determined to be 86.56±3.54, 57.67± 2.79, 39.98± 3.91, 23.22±2.04 and 23.00±2.17 respectively. A statistically significant difference was detected between medical error proneness and clinic of employment and years of employment (p 0.05) however no meaningful difference was determined for educational status factor (p 0.05). Conclusion: Study shows that medical error proneness among nurses is low however identified that nurses with less experience and nurses who work in surgical units are more prone to make medical errors.