The prevalence and nature of errors and near errors reported by hospital staff nurses.

The purpose of this article is to describe the nature and prevalence of errors and near errors reported by 393 full-time hospital staff nurses. One hundred nineteen nurses (30%) reported making at least one error, and 127 nurses (33%) reported at least one near error, for a total of 199 errors and 213 near errors in the 28-day data collection period. Although the majority of errors and near errors identified in this study involved medication administration, the number of procedural, transcription, and charting errors that occurred suggests the need for further examination of the way we currently deliver health care.