Rate, causes and reporting of medication errors in Jordan: nurses' perspectives.

Aim: The aim of the study was to describe Jordanian nurses' perceptions about various issues related to medication errors.

Background: This is the first nursing study about medication errors in Jordan.

Methods: This was a descriptive study. A convenient sample of 799 nurses from 24 hospitals was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

Results: Over the course of their nursing career, the average number of recalled committed medication errors per nurse was 2.2. Using incident reports, the rate of medication errors reported to nurse managers was 42.1%. Medication errors occurred mainly when medication labels/packaging were of poor quality or damaged. Nurses failed to report medication errors because they were afraid that they might be subjected to disciplinary actions or even lose their jobs. In the stepwise regression model, gender was the only predictor of medication errors in Jordan.

Conclusions: Strategies to reduce or eliminate medication errors are required.