The relationship between incident reporting by nurses and safety management in hospitals

This study examines the relationship between nurses' perceptions of incident reporting, the frequency of incident reporting on wards, and safety management in hospitals.

A self-administered survey was conducted on 528 nurses in 8 hospitals that provide core medical care in rural areas of Japan. Each of these hospitals is equipped with more than 90 beds. The relationship among perceptions of incident reporting, the frequency of incident reporting on wards, and safety management was examined using Pearson correlation coefficients calculated using ward scores.

Safety managers' attitudes and safety management at the ward level were found to have significant correlation with fear of reprisal caused by incident reporting, willingness to carry out incident reporting, and recognition of the importance of incident reporting.

On wards where staff and safety managers discuss incidents and their root causes, staff are less fearful of incident reporting, understand the significance of incident reporting, and report incidents more willingly. There is a need for ward managers not only to demonstrate leadership in terms of safety management but also to discuss incidents with staff.