The Effect of Mental Fatigue on Health Self-Efficacy and Medical Error Tendency in Clinical Nurses: A Descriptive Study

A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and August 2024 involving 445 clinical nurses working conducted between June and August 2024 involved 445 clinical nurses at a tertiary hospital in Turkey to explore how mental fatigue influences examine how mental fatigue affects health self-efficacy and the propensity for medical errors. After obtaining the necessary institutional permissions, After obtaining the necessary institutional permissions, After obtaining the necessary institutional permissions, data were collected through face-to-face interviews using the Descriptive Characteristics Information Form, the Mental Fatigue Scale, the Health Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Medical Error Tendency Scale in Nursing, after obtaining the necessary institutional permissions. The data were analyzed using parametric and nonparametric tests, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling. Nurses’ mean scores were 15.58±4.82 for mental fatigue, 144.55±18.19 for health self-efficacy, and 199.76±25.65 for medical error tendency. The findings indicated that mental fatigue significantly influenced nurses’ health self-efficacy, but did not affect their tendency toward medical errors. The proposed model explained 33.3% of the variance in health self-efficacy and 94.2% of the variance in medical error tendency. Descriptive analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to evaluate the proposed model in accordance with STROBE recommendations. These results suggest that reducing mental fatigue may enhance nurses’ health self-efficacy and support safer clinical practices. Therefore, developing and implementing educational and managerial strategies to mitigate mental fatigue is essential to strengthen nurses’ self-efficacy and to minimize risks that threatenthreatening patient and staff safety.