Awareness and Attitudes Toward Medication Error Reporting Among Healthcare Providers at a Tertiary Hospital in Riyadh

Background: Medication errors are a serious risk to patient safety worldwide. One of the main problems is that many healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not report them, which makes improvement harder. This study aimed to explore the awareness and attitudes of HCPs about reporting medication errors in a large tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with 425 healthcare professionals (nurses, doctors, and pharmacists) using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The survey collected information on demographics, knowledge, attitudes, reporting practices, and perceived barriers. Results: The participants showed good knowledge about medication errors (average score 4.8 out of 6) and had positive attitudes toward reporting (average score 4.2 out of 5). Still, 62.4% had never reported an error. The main barriers were fear of punishment (average 3.8 out of 5) and lack of feedback (average 3.5 out of 5). Conclusion: There is a clear gap between the positive attitudes of healthcare professionals toward reporting medication errors and their actual reporting practice. This gap is mostly caused by a culture of blame and fear. To improve patient safety, hospitals need to create a fair, non-punitive reporting system and provide strong feedback to staff.