The Institute of Medicine report on medical errors in November 2000 brought the health care errors issue to the public's attention, and it has resulted in an increased effort to reduce medical errors. This report indicated that between 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors in hospitals. The cost of medical errors is approximately $37.6 billion each year, $17 billion has been attributed to preventable errors (IOM, 1999). Unfortunately, limited data are available on the extent of the problem outside the hospitals. The purpose of this study was to assess how home health nurses perceive, and deal with care errors in their practice setting. And to assess how they relate to the national patient safety movement.
A cross-sectional survey design was used. Home health agencies of a southeastern state were randomly divided into two groups. The directors of home health agencies were contacted in the first phase by mail and follow-up calls were used to obtain their agreement to participate in the study. In the second phase, packets containing surveys, a flier, and a description of the study were mailed to the clinical directors. After two weeks, reminder cards were sent to the clinical director who placed them in each nurse's mailbox, was sent to the clinical director.
Home health nurses' perceived care errors were related to medication (40%), laboratory (15.5%), wound care (6.5%), scheduling and wrong patient visits (6°/u), teaching-care errors (5%), and needle sticks (1%). Causes of errors were communication (54%), documentation (36%), and lack of familiarity with equipment (10%). Constructive changes in practice were associated with accepting responsibility, seeking social support, and emotional self-control. Medication errors remain the most commonly occurring error in the home health care area. Further studies are needed to examine the issue from the home health agency's and nurse's practice perspective.
Keywords . Home Healthcare Errors, Home Health Nurses' Care Errors, Nursing Errors, Coping With Care Errors, Long Term Care Errors.
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