Nurses’ Perceptions about Adverse Event Reporting in Pediatric Intensive Care

Abstract

Introduction: Adverse event reporting is a reflection of nursing care quality and safety culture.

Objective: To identify nurses' perception about adverse event reporting in pediatric intensive care.

Methods: A qualitative study, of convergent care research type, was carried out in the intensive care unit of Hospital Provincial Pediátrico José Luis Miranda, in Cuba, from October to December 2022. Thirty-eight nurses participated in an informal interview, with participant observation and a discussion group. The data collected in the research process were organized by information analogy, as well as qualitatively analyzed. This included the discovery, coding and relativization of the information, which allowed to identify and code these categories, as well as establishing relationships.

Results: The participants perceived that adverse event reporting was done verbally to the head nurse. The lack of reporting was due to lack of knowledge about safety culture aspects, fear of sanctions and the nonexistence of a reporting system. As part of the strategies to encourage adverse events reporting, the nurses suggested holding workshops and training courses on safety culture, as well as creating a nonpunitive working environment that favors the analysis and learning from each error.

Conclusion: Nursing professionals perceive that adverse events in the intensive care settings are reported spontaneously. There is a need to train such staff based on a patient safety culture and to design an adverse event surveillance system.