Promoting Just Culture: Implementing a Medication Error Reporting Process in Nursing Education

BACKGROUND: This quality improvement project aimed to promote a just culture when medication errors (MEs) occur by implementing a standardized ME reporting process that encouraged consistency, transparency, and support for students and faculty. METHOD: Clinical faculty were trained on the ME reporting process, which included a school of nursing incident reporting system, a debriefing tool, an algorithm to classify student behavior, and structured support for students as second victims. Faculty were surveyed before and after the training. RESULTS: Faculty confidence in addressing MEs with students significantly improved after training. MEs related to the incorrect dose, patient, time, medication, and route accounted for 69% of all reported MEs. Data collection for the ME incident reporting system is ongoing. CONCLUSION: Implementing a standardized ME reporting process increases faculty confidence in addressing errors while promoting fairness and equity among students. These findings emphasize the value of having a well-structured, consistent approach for managing MEs.