Patient Safety Incident Reporting Behaviour and Associated Factor sAmong Nurses Working in Public Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2024) (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Background The health care delivery system is a complicated, by design and prone to errors with many medical practices and risks in the system emerging as major challenges for patient safety by contributing significantly to the burden of harm due to unsafe care(1). Patient safety which includes actions taken to avoid and lessen unfavorable outcomes that couldendanger patients while they are receiving treatment is a basic component ofthe provision of healthcare. An essential tool for recognizing and resolving patient safety issues in healthcare settings is incident reporting. By reporting incidents, healthcare professionals contribute to the identification of system failures the implementation of corrective measures and the improvement of overall patient carequality(2). Patient safety is defined as the reduction of risk of unnecessary harm associated with health care to an acceptably minimum degree. In contrast, a patient safety incident (PSI) is any event or situation that, via one way or another, may have caused or really did cause needless harm to a patient(3). The provision of high-quality healthcare isthought to be inextricablylinked to patient safety, making it afundamentaland crucial component (4). One of the top priorities for the global health community is for healthcare facilities to establish a patient safety culture, and incident reporting is regarded as a crucial component of this effort(1, 3). Evaluating the current patient safety culture is the first step towards creating a new one (4). Positive patient safety cultures in health organizations are predicted by a number of factors, including shared understanding of the value of patient safety, communication based on mutual trust, synchronized information flow, leadership commitment, and the absence of a punitive approach to incident reporting(4-6). Depending on the level of injurythe patient experiences, a safety incident can be categorized into one of three categories: harmful, which includes harm that results from a patient not receiving the intended or anticipated treatment. Adverse Events (AEs) and/or Sentinel Events are included in the definition of a harmful incident. An event falling under the PSI classification of "No Harm Incident" happens but does not cause harm to the patient(5). Reporting previously occurring occurrences is one strategy to enhance patient safety. Learning from mistakes would be facilitated by an inclusive and methodical approach to event reporting. Healthworkers can trace and discuss a variety of errors and safety-related accidents through incident reporting, which enables the construction of preventive measures. The magnitude of underreporting, however, remains high in different countries(7,8) In Ethiopia, as in many other low- and middle-income countries, the promotion of patient safetyand the establishment of robust incident reporting systems are essential priorities for improving healthcarequality and reducing adverse events. However, little study has been done expressly on the incident reporting practices of Ethiopian nurses employed at public hospitals in Addis Ababa. The absence of sufficient knowledge impedes the development of focused treatments and policies that aim to improve patient safety within the local healthcare setting. OBJECTIVE Objective: This studyaimed To assess incident reporting behavior and associated factors among Nurses working in Addis Ababa Public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2024. METHODS Methods: A cross-sectional institutional-based study was conducted with a total of 233 randomly selected participant samples drawn from six public hospitals in Addis Ababa, between July 16 and September 16, 2024. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and observational checklist based on previous studies were employed for data collection. Bivariate and multivariate analysis used a binary logistic regression model to determine the relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables and the strength of association was calculated as Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR),and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) at <0.05 p-value. RESULTS Result: A total of 245 study subjects were recruited. 233 were interviewed yielding response rate of 95.8% of the 233 participants were female (162(69.5%)), and had a degree (145 (62%)). The largest group of study participants reported having 6-10 years of experience in the hospital (53.5%) and in the current unit (40%). Additionally, Degree nurse participants had a 3.027 times greater odd ofofreporting patient safety incident when compared to Diploma Nurse (AOR: 3.027; 95%CI: 1.736-5.279). Nursesthat reported more than 5 years (31.7%) of experience had a 1.71 times greater odd of reporting safety incidents compared to nurses that reported less than 5 years of experience (AOR: 1.71; 95%CI: 1.236- 2.379). CONCLUSIONS Conclusion: - Safety incident reporting culture score of participants was less than 70%. Training on patient safety and incident reporting positively affects reporting. Clear guidelines should be put onpatient safety and incident reporting. Focus should be given to trainings. CLINICALTRIAL Safety culture, reporting,AmongNurseAddisAbaba.