Nurses’ attitudes and barriers to incident reporting in Malta’s acute general hospital

Abstract

Although the science of patient safety has been developed and implemented widely, there remains a large gap in the understanding of the chain of events that lead to safety incidents, as well as their cost to patients, healthcare staff and the organisations as a whole. The aim of the study was to evaluate nurses’ knowledge and awareness of the local incident reporting system at Malta’s acute general hospital. A quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional design was used and data were collected from nurses through an online survey. A total of 323 questionnaires were received with a response rate of 23%. Various shortages within the local setting were identified, including lack of feedback and awareness of the system. Therefore, it is suggested that incident reporting should be given a higher profile on the organisation’s agenda and incorporate employed members of staff rather than volunteers.