The Relationship Between Nurses' Sleep Quality and Their Tendency to Commit Medical Errors

Objective  To examine the relationship between nurses' sleep quality and their tendency to commit medical errors. Materials and Methods  The research was conducted in a state hospital, a private hospital, and a university hospital in a province located in the west region of Turkey (n = 378 nurses) between September 2020 and October 2021. Data was collected using a sociodemographic data form, the Medical Error Tendency Scale in Nursing (METSN), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Verbal and written consent were obtained from the nurses who participated in the study. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Results  The mean score of the nurses was of 8.25 ± 4.81 on the PSQI and of 230.29 ± 14.15 on the METSN. A significant difference was found regarding age, marital status, level of schooling, weekly working hours, and the shift schedule of nurses and their sleep quality ( p  < 0.001). A significant difference was found regarding age, marital status, level of schooling, the hospital the nurses worked in, and the tendency to commit medical errors ( p  < 0.001). There was a statistically significant negative and moderate correlation between the PSQI and METSN scores ( p  < 0.001; r = -0.548). Conclusion  The tendency of nurses to commit medical errors was determined as low, and their sleep quality was poor. We have also determined that, as the sleep quality worsened, the tendency of nurses to commit medical errors increased.