Nurses' role in medical error recovery: an integrative review

Aims and objectives The aim of this study was to conduct an integrative review of the literature to fully understand nurses' role in medical error recovery. Background Despite focused efforts on error prevention, the prevalence of medical errors occurring in the health care system remains a concern. Patient harm can be reduced or prevented by adequate recovery processes that include identifying, interrupting and correcting medical errors in a timely fashion. Both medical error prevention and recovery are critical components in advancing patient safety, yet little is known about nurses' role in medical error recovery. Design An integrative review of the literature, guided by Whittmore and Knafl's (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 5, 2005, 546) five‐step process, was conducted for the period between 2000–2015. A comprehensive search yielded twelve articles for this review. Methods The level and quality of evidence of the included articles was rated using a five‐level rating system and the Johns Hopkins Nursing Quality of Evidence Appraisal developed by ©The Johns Hopkins Hospital/The Johns Hopkins University. Results The medical error recovery rate varied across specialty nursing populations with nurses recovering, on average, as many as one error per shift to as few as one error per week. Nurses rely on knowing the patient, environment and plan of care to aid in medical error recovery. Conclusions Nurses play a unique yet invisible role in identifying, interrupting and recovering medical errors. Individual and organisational factors influencing nurses' ability to recover medical errors remain unclear. Relevance to clinical practice Greater understanding of nurse characteristics and organisational factors that influence error recovery can foster the development of effective strategies to detect and correct medical errors and enable organisations to reduce negative outcomes.