Recommendations to prevent nursing errors: Content analysis of semi-structured interviews with intensive care unit nurses in a developing country

Abstract

Aim: To elicit intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' recommendations to prevent nursing errors.

Background: Errors are usually induced by faulty systems, and managers play a key role in building a safe health care system.

Method: A qualitative research design was used. Semi-structured interviews with 112 Egyptian ICU nurses were conducted, and responses were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: Responses from 108 nurses were analysed. Six themes of recommendations were identified: improvement and better organisation of resources, policy modification, education and training, likeness minimization, use of technology and work environment changes.

Conclusion: Nurses' recommendations reflect the poor-resource context in developing countries. Several recommendations, however, are relatively cheap to implement strategies.

Implications for nursing management: All reported recommendations are organisational issues. Improvement and better organisation of human and non-human resources is a priority issue to prevent or minimize nursing errors. Policy modification, education and training, and likeness minimization are relatively cheap, easy-to-implement strategies to tackle the occurrence of nursing errors in developing countries. Staff nurses should be actively involved in policy reform. Patient safety education should be supported by adopting modern technology and work environment reform.

Keywords: Egypt; content analysis; health care errors; nursing errors; patient safety.