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Cited by 42Patient Safety and Medication ErrorsHealthcare Quality and ManagementMedical Malpractice and Liability Issues

Practice, perceived barriers and motivating factors to medical-incident reporting: a cross-section survey of health care providers at Mbarara regional referral hospital, southwestern Uganda

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Naome, Turyahabwe, James, Mwesigwa, Christine, Atuhairwe, Mugisha, Taremwa Ivan·2020·BMC Health Services Research
DOI 10.1186/s12913-020-05155-zPMC PMC7118859

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Abstract

Background: Medical-incident reporting (MIR) ensures patient safety and delivery of quality of care by minimizing unintentional harm among health care providers. We explored medical-incident reporting practices, perceived barriers and motivating factors among health care providers at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study on 158 health provider at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH), Western Uganda. Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS. The chi-square was used to determine factors associated with MIR at MRRH. Results: The results showed that there was no formal incident reporting structure. However the medical-incidences identified were: medication errors (89.9%), diagnostic errors (71.5%), surgical errors (52.5%) and preventive error (47.7%). The motivating factors of MIR were: establishment of a good communication system, instituting corrective action on the reported incidents and reinforcing health workers knowledge on MIR ( p -value 0.004); presence of effective organizational systems like: written guidelines, practices of open door policy, no blame approach, and team work were significantly associated with MIR (p-value 0.000). On the other hand, perceived barriers to MIR were: lack of knowledge on incidents and their reporting, non-existence of an incident reporting team and fear of being punished (p- value 0.669). Conclusion: Medical Incident Reporting at MRRH was sub-optimal. Therefore setting up an incident management team and conducting routine training MIR among health care workers will increase patient safety.

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  • The medical malpractice system and state licensing boards can cause healthcare staff to be less willing to report medical errors due to the fear of adverse administrative consequences, suggesting the importance of creating a tolerant and safe working culture that emphasizes learning.

    “However, they can also cause healthcare staff to be less willing to report medical errors due to the fear of adverse administrative consequences, suggesting the importance of creating a tolerant and safe working culture that emphasizes learning [257,258].”

    From Toward Safer Diagnoses: A SEIPS-Based Narrative Review of Diagnostic Errors (2026) · cites this paper as [257]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Naome, T., James, M., Christine, A., & Mugisha, T. I.
Venue
BMC Health Services Research
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-04-03
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
276-276
ISSN
1472-6963 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12913-020-05155-z
PMC
PMC7118859
OpenAlex
W3014973412
Cited by
42
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8
FWCI
4.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Health Services Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Healthcare Quality and Management
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues
Keywords
patient safety, healthcare workers, barriers to reporting, motivational factors, medication errors, diagnostic errors, surgical errors, organizational culture, incident management teams, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital
MeSH terms
Attitude of Health Personnel, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diagnostic Errors, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Medication Errors, Motivation, Personnel, Hospital, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Management, Uganda, Organizational Policy, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Tertiary Care Centers

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