Critical care nurses' perception of nursing error and its causes: a qualitative study.

Abstract

Nurses' perceptions of nursing error could affect their professional practice. The aim of the study was to explore critical care nurses' perceptions of nursing error and its causes. This was a qualitative study in which 12 critical care nurses were recruited through purposive sampling. The data were collected via in-depth interviews and analyzed through qualitative content analysis method (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). Nursing error was deemed as an unavoidable issue which consisted of the lack of congruence with standards, doing extra-nursing tasks and giving care against the agreed-upon routines. Five categories emerged as the causes of error: individual reasons, work pressure, caring blindly, the uniqueness of caring environment and the lack of coordination among health care team members. The perception of nursing error is sort of unique; hence, managers should provide support for critical care nurses and pave the way for the prevention of errors.