DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 293-300

Medication errors are considered to be serious threats to patient’s safety. Effective medication error reporting is a necessary tool to prevent and reduce its occurrence. This study was conducted to determine and compare the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) on medication error reporting among health practitioners from hospitals in Manila. 180 health practitioners, consisting of physicians, nurses and pharmacists were included in the study. Comparison between their knowledge, attitude and practices with their demographics was also made. The results showed that 72% of health practitioners were not knowledgeable on medication error reporting. The pharmacists have the highest proportion (38%) of knowledgeable respondents. Majority of the health practitioners (58%) were classified to have unfavorable attitude towards medication error reporting. Only the pharmacists have higher proportion of respondents (52%) with favorable attitude. More than half of the respondents (52%) are practicing medication error reporting. Among other variables, the age and frequency of encounter with medication errors affected the respondents’ knowledge while the manner of reporting affected their practices. Based on the results, it can be concluded that an improvement in medication error reporting system is still needed. Strengthening education about reporting is one of the ways to do such. Reporting system that may encourage health practitioners to report without having any doubt must also be established properly in hospitals to be able to improve patient care