PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rogers, A E
AU  - Dean, G E
AU  - Hwang, W-T
AU  - Scott, L D
TI  - Role of registered nurses in error prevention, discovery and correction
AID  - 10.1136/qshc.2007.022699
DP  - 2008 Apr 01
TA  - Quality and Safety in Health Care
PG  - 117--121
VI  - 17
IP  - 2
4099  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/17/2/117.short
4100  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/17/2/117.full
SO  - Qual Saf Health Care2008 Apr 01; 17
AB  - Background: Registered nurses have a vital role in discovering and correcting medical error.Objective: To describe the type and frequency of errors detected by American critical care nurses, and to ascertain who made the errors discovered by study participants.Methods: Daily logbooks were used to collect information about errors discovered by a random sample of 502 critical care nurses during a 28-day period.Results: Although the majority of errors discovered and corrected by critical care nurses involved medications (163/367), procedural errors were common (n = 115). Charting and transcription errors were less frequently discovered. The errors discovered by participants were attributed to a wide variety of staff members including nurses, doctors, pharmacists, technicians and unit secretaries.Conclusions: Given the importance of nurses in maintaining patient safety, future studies should identify factors that enhance their effectiveness to prevent, intercept and correct healthcare errors.