Perceptions of incidents and incident reporting among staff nurses in a tertiary Philippine hospital

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION@#The number of injuries and expenses from unsafe delivery of health care has heeded the call for a greater patient safety advocacy. The development of an effective reporting system contributes towards this cause. The study aimed to explore the perceptions of nurses regarding critical incidents and investigate the factors affecting their decision to report a certain event.@*METHODS@#Focus group discussions including 28 nurses working in the service wards of a tertiary hospital, and the data gathered were analyzed using descriptive qualitative approach.@*RESULTS@#Three key themes emerged from the discussions (1) perceptions of an incident, (2) attitudes, norms, and culture of incident reporting in the workplace, and (3) perceptions and suggestions for management actions and improving the reporting system. The study showed that various factors tend to interplay in the identification of an incident as well as the consideration to perform the behavior.@*DISCUSSION@#The primary practice and education implications focus on changing the workplace culture and proper orientation of the staff, while further research regarding the role of reporting, and appropriate analysis of error reporting among other health care professionals would be recommended.