Nurses' responses to medication errors: suggestions for the development of organizational strategies to improve reporting.

The purpose of this study was to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how nurses respond to medication errors and identify strategies that nurses believe may improve reporting of these errors within hospitals. The findings suggest that nurses use a decision-making process when reporting medication errors. Medication error reporting may be improved by instituting a problem-solving approach to respectfully manage the event and providing nurses with clear guidelines, remedial education, and timely feedback.