Barriers and Strategies of Reporting Medical Errors at Benghazi Medical Center: A Cross-sectional Study in Benghazi City, Libya

Abstract

Background: Reporting medical errors (MEs) prevents potential harm to the patient.  This is while patient safety is a major priority in the health system and focuses on the goal of preventing medical errors before these errors cause death, injury, or harm to the patient so medical errors are one of the major factors affecting the quality of hospital services and reducing patient safety in health care systems. Aims: To study the Barriers and Strategies of Reporting Medical Errors (MEs) at Benghazi Medical Center (BMC). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from August to October 2021 at Benghazi Medical Center (BMC). The data was collected using a validated questionnaire where random sampling was used to represent the BMC, a represented sample of 500 clinical staff (280 physicians, 220 nurses) Results:  219 nurses and 281 physicians from the sample stated that reporting medical errors was inadequate. The highest mean for measuring the barriers that prevent the reporting of medical errors was 3.4749 for nurses, and 3.6263 for physicians, which represents medical error reporting is inadequate. While measuring Strategies for Improving the Reporting of medical errors was 4.5662 for nurses, and 4.7794 for Physicians, which represents There should be clear guidelines and procedures for reporting errors. Conclusion: The highest measuring the barriers that prevent the reporting of medical errors was the complexity of the work, while the highest measure in the strategy to improve the reporting system was the necessity of having clear controls and procedures for reporting medical errors.