Anesthesia students’ behaviors towards a medical errors: a phenomenological qualitative scenario study

This study is a qualitative scenario study designed to investigate the behaviors of associate degree anesthesia program students, who will work in operating rooms after graduation, in response to medical errors they may encounter in the future and how they cope with these errors. This qualitative study was conducted using interpretive phenomenology. Research data were collected from 33 students enrolled in the Anesthesia Program, selected using purposive sampling, between October 2022 and January 2023. A hypothetical case scenario was prepared for the study, which anesthesiology technicians working in the operating room environment might encounter, and data were collected using a semi-structured interview technique. The data obtained were transcribed into written form on a computer and coded according to qualitative research methods. In the inductive coding process, “felt emotions” were divided into two main categories: Challenging Emotions and Functional Emotions, while “behaviors” were divided into Desired Behaviors and Undesired Behaviors. The research found that students viewed medical errors as “a normal situation,” providing an opportunity to shed light on what students think about medical errors and to develop new educational strategies.