Effectiveness of a structured educational program on knowledge about medication errors and stress of conscience among psychiatric nurses

Medication errors are a persistent threat to patient safety in psychiatric settings, where complex pharmacotherapy and ethical conscience heighten nurses’ stress of conscience. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a structured educational program on knowledge about medication errors and stress of conscience among psychiatric nurses. A one-group pre–post quasi-experimental design was implemented with 89 nurses from Assiut University Psychiatric Hospital and at Assiut Mental Health Hospital (Ministry of Health hospital), Egypt. The four-week program integrated educational sessions, reflective discussion, and scenario-based learning. Data were collected using validated medication-error and stress-of-conscience questionnaires. Knowledge about medication errors improved significantly following the structured educational program, with mean scores increasing from 63.20 ± 22.27 pre-intervention to 72.19 ± 18.92 post-intervention ( t = 3.01, p < .001, d = 0.71). Reported medication errors declined moderately after the program ( t = 2.63, p = .01, d = 0.54). Stress-of-conscience scores decreased slightly from 37.0 ± 6.5 to 36.0 ± 6.2, although the difference was not statistically significant ( t = 1.24, p = .22). A weak but statistically significant negative correlation was found between stress of conscience and medication errors ( r = − .25, p = .03). The structured educational program was associated with improved knowledge about medication errors and reduced reported medication errors among psychiatric nurses. Although stress-of-conscience scores decreased slightly following the educational program, the difference was not statistically significant.