Investigating the Relationship between Social Responsibility, Nursing Errors, and Error Reporting from the Perspective of Nurses

Social responsibility is one of the key components of nurses’ professional ethics that can play an effective role in promoting patient safety. This study aimed to determine the relationship between social responsibility, nursing errors, and error reporting from the perspective of nurses working at Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd in 2024. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted with the participation of 160 nurses working in various wards of Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd, who were selected using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected using demographic, social responsibility, nursing error, and error reporting questionnaires and were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation test in SPSS version 16. The mean scores for nurses’ social responsibility, nursing errors, and error reporting were 46.18 ± 11.46, 43.18 ± 10.41, and 49.16 ± 9.26, respectively. A significant negative correlation was observed between social responsibility and both nursing errors and error reporting (P < 0.001). The findings showed that higher levels of social responsibility were associated with a reduction in nursing errors; however, contrary to expectations, they were also associated with a lower tendency to report errors. This finding may reflect the influence of organizational factors, safety culture, and concerns about professional consequences on nurses’ error-reporting behavior. Accordingly, strengthening social responsibility, alongside the development of non-punitive error reporting systems and a systems-based approach to error management, is recommended.