Relationships bewteen Non-nursing Tasks, Missed Nursing Care, Patient Safety Nursing Activities, and Medical Errors in Nurses

Purpose: This study examined the relationships between non-nursing tasks, missed nursing care, patient safety nursing activities, and medical errors.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 168 nurses at a university hospital in Seoul using structured questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test, ANOVA, χ²-test, multiple regression analysis, binary logistic regression analysis, and the Hosmer- Lemeshow test with IBM SPSS 23.0.Results: The mean score for non-nursing tasks was 2.07±0.29 out of 3.0, and that for missed nursing care was 1.63±0.40 out of 4.0. The mean score for patient safety nursing activities was 4.51±0.42 out of 5.0, and fifty-one nurses had made a medical errors in the last six months. Missed nursing care had statistically significant negative correlations with patient safety nursing activities. Multiple regression analysis revealed that missed care accounted for 19.1% of patient safety nursing activities. Logistic regression analysis revealed that missed nursing care was a significant factor correlated with nurses’medical errors. Nurses with lower missed nursing care scores were more likely to perform patient safety nursing activities and were less likely to make medical errors.Conclusion: The findings showed that missed nursing care significantly affected patient safety nursing activities and medical errors. To enhance patient safety nursing activities and prevent medical errors, nurse managers should make efforts to reduce missed nursing care. Hospital management should ensure adequate staffing to maintain the quality of nursing care, and establish systems and policies to improve patient safety activities and prevent medical errors.