The effectiveness of checklists and error reporting systems in enhancing patient safety and reducing medical errors in hospital settings: A narrative review.
Emmanuel Aoudi Chance, Dia Florence, Innocent Sardi Abdoul
PMID 39156684WHAT IT FOUND
Hospital checklists, medication reconciliation, and error reporting systems were associated with fewer medication and surgical errors, better team communication, and a stronger safety culture.
Nurses can use them for medication checks and near-miss reporting, but training and fear of blame can block use.
Key findings
01Surgical safety checklists were reported to reduce surgical errors, including wrong-site surgery; checklists and medication reconciliation were reported to reduce medication administration errors.
02Error reporting systems were reported to identify system weaknesses, encourage near-miss reporting, and support a safety culture.
03Adoption was limited by resistance to change, liability fears, lack of awareness, inadequate training, and discomfort with technology.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a randomised trial or meta-analysis, so it cannot show the size of any effect. The text does not show how each included study's quality was judged. The included studies came from different hospital settings, so the findings may not transfer to every ward or profession. The review focused on checklists, medication reconciliation, and error reporting systems, not on specific patient conditions or rehabilitation outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no funding and no financial competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that a specific checklist will reduce errors on your ward. The review summarises many studies and settings, and it does not test one intervention in one patient group. It also cannot separate the contribution of checklists, medication reconciliation, and error reporting systems.