Abstract

Background: Medical errors are preventable adverse events that significantly impact patient safety, healthcare costs, and public trust. Understanding their prevalence, patterns, and determinants is essential for improving healthcare quality and safety. Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence, patterns, and determinants of medical errors among healthcare workers in Edo State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted across a tertiary and a primary healthcare facility using stratified random sampling to recruit 324 healthcare workers. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire that covered sociodemographic characteristics, prevalence and types of medical errors, and their determinants. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression to identify significant associations and predictors of errors, with a significance threshold of p < 0.05. Results: The prevalence of self-reported medical errors was 58.6%, with medication errors (46.3%) being the most common, followed by laboratory errors (31.6%) and wrong communication with patients (30.0%). Among medication errors, dose omissions (60.2%) and wrong dose administration (43.2%) were predominant, while less than one year of experience significantly increased the odds of errors (OR = 3.17, p = 0.009). Fear of consequences (53.7%) and lack of reporting systems (19.1%) were key barriers to error reporting. Conclusion: The high prevalence and varied patterns of medical errors underscore the need for systemic interventions, including enhanced training, mentorship programs, and error-reporting systems to improve patient safety and healthcare outcomes.

Keywords: Determinants, Medical errors, Patient safety, Patterns, Prevalence