Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

Applying the principles of professional ethics by nurses creates a suitable social and psychological environment for patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of nurses' awareness of the principles of professional ethics and barriers towards its observance in public hospitals in South Khorasan province in 2019.The present study was a cross-sectional study that was performed on 230 nurses in South Khorasan province by multi-stage sampling method. Data collection tools were a checklist of demographic information and a questionnaire about nurses' awareness and barriers of the principles of professional ethics. Data were analyzed by SPSS V.22 software using descriptive and inferential statistics. In this study, the mean ± SD age of participants was 32.34 ± 5.73 years. The mean score of participants' awareness was moderate level and the first obstacle to professional ethics from the perspective of nurses was the environmental domain. The most important obstacles to professional ethics were dissatisfaction from basic needs, unreasonable expectations of patients and their attendants from nursing staff and nursing staff shortages, respectively. Since nurses' awareness of the principles of professional ethics is moderate level, so holding professional ethics workshops, removing environmental barriers, and providing favorable conditions for nurses including improving the conditions of wards and increasing staff and meeting their expectations in the fields Various such as adequate rest, adequate income and planning appropriate shifts are recommended.

Reporting medication errors is essential for improving patient safety and enhancing the quality of nursing care. By identifying and reducing medical and treatment errors, reporting helps foster better care practices. However, various barriers prevent nurses from reporting errors, allowing mistakes to persist in clinical environments. This study aims to identify the barriers to medication error reporting among nurses in Iran through a narrative review. This narrative review involved searching articles from several databases, including ScienceDirect, PubMed, SID, Scopus, CINAHL, Magiran, and Google Scholar, using keywords such as "nurses," "barriers to reporting," "causes of non-reporting," "medication errors," "drug mistakes," "Iran," and their English equivalents. Research articles in both Persian and English, published between 2011 and 2024, which focused on barriers to medication error reporting among nurses in Iran and offered full-text access, were selected for review. Initially, 67 articles were identified. After reviewing the titles, abstracts, and in some cases, full texts, 23 articles were selected and analyzed based on their alignment with the research aim. The review revealed that barriers to reporting medication errors among nurses in Iran are influenced by individual, organizational, and cultural factors. Individual barriers include fear of legal and professional consequences, concerns about negative impacts on performance evaluations, and fear of being labeled incompetent. Organizational barriers consist of workload pressures, lack of time, inefficient reporting systems, and a lack of support from managers and colleagues. Additionally, a weak safety culture in hospitals and insufficient training on the importance of error reporting further hinder the reporting process. The findings of this study indicate that barriers to reporting medication errors among nurses in Iran are primarily due to individual, organizational, and cultural factors. To address these barriers, it is crucial for hospital administrators and healthcare system officials to provide appropriate training and foster a supportive environment that encourages error reporting. Regular training sessions, coupled with positive, non-judgmental feedback on error reporting, can enhance nurses' trust in the reporting system. Strengthening reporting systems and cultivating a safety culture with active involvement from both nurses and administrators will not only improve the quality of nursing care but also reduce medication errors.