Adverse events at the Intensive Care Unit: nurses' perception about the culture of no-punishment

Abstract

The safety culture of Intensive Care Units (ICU) recommends following the no-punishment approach when adverse events (AE) occur. It is, however, questionable if nurses perceive those AE. Objectives: to characterize AE report systems; to verify AE frequency and consequences to the professionals; and to verify the nurses' level of confidence to report AE. This descriptive study involved 70 ICU nurses, who answered a questionnaire in 2007, followed by descriptive analyses. Most nurses (70.0%) reported the existence of an AE notification system at their place of work. The frequency of AE was reported as sometimes and several times by 51.4% and 28.6% of the sample, respectively. For 74.3% of nurses, punishment happens sometimes and always, mainly through verbal notice (49.0%). Most nurses (74.3%) reported feeling confident and completely confident to report AE. In conclusion, punishment still exists in the Units.