What influences nursing safety event reporting among nursing interns?: Focus group study

Nursing safety events involving undergraduate nursing interns often occur but are under-reported. Only a few nursing schools have instituted formal reporting systems. The factors that affect reporting by undergraduate nursing interns are largely unknown.

The study aimed to explore the barriers and incentives to nursing safety event reporting by nursing interns.

Focus groups were adopted to generate data for qualitative, thematic analyses.

Focus groups were held in intern dormitories during evenings or weekends.

Purposive sampling strategies were employed. The participants were undergraduate nursing interns from one medical university in Fuzhou, China.

A total of six focus groups were conducted. Semi-structured questions guided the groups.

Thirty-eight undergraduate nursing interns attended the groups. Barriers to nursing safety event reporting had five major themes: "Lack of knowledge," "Inconvenience of the reporting system," "Feeling of uncertainty and dishonor," "No benefit from reporting," and "Social influence." Incentives had three major themes: "Nursing safety event education," "Optimization of the reporting system," and "Anonymous reporting." Specific and targeted suggestions were considered, such as education by QQ or WeChat and the use of mobile devices.

Nursing schools need to establish nursing safety event reporting systems for interns, and this needs to be accomplished in cooperation with teaching hospitals to clarify duties and management responsibilities. Practical and targeted management strategies need to be developed to foster reporting, improve nursing safety culture, and promote hospital quality.