International Journal of Public Health Research 2015; 3(5): 292-299 Published online August 30, 2015 (http://www.openscienceonline.com/journal/ijphr) Common Medical Errors and Error Reporting Systems in Selected Hospitals of Central Uganda Katongole Simon Peter 1, * , Robert Anguyo DDM Onzima 2 , Miisa Nanyingi 1 , Nakiwala Stella Regina 3 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, Uganda Martyrs University, Kampala, Uganda 2 Department of International Public Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Kampala, Uganda 3 HealthPartners Uganda, Bushenyi, Uganda Email address skatongole@umu.ac.ug (K. S. Peter), ranguyo@yahoo.com (R. A. D. Onzima), mnanyingi@umu.ac.ug (M. Nanyingi), rnakiwala@gmail.com (N. S. Regina) To cite this article Katongole Simon Peter, Robert Anguyo DDM Onzima, Miisa Nanyingi, Nakiwala Stella Regina. Common Medical Errors and Error Reporting Systems in Selected Hospitals of Central Uganda. International Journal of Public Health Research. Vol. 3, No. 5, 2015, pp. 292-299. Abstract Medical errors are under studied in the developing world, therefore, this study set out to identify common errors committed during provision of health care and error management systems in the hospitals with reference to central Uganda. This was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out between January 16 th and January 22 nd 2012 in four hospitals in central Uganda (2 Public hospitals and 2 Catholic Private not for profit hospitals). A total of 160 health workers participated in the study. Respondents were interviewed the on errors they had committed or witnessed happening in their hospitals during the 3 months preceding this study. Patients’ records of the three months preceding the study were also reviewed to identify the common medical errors that had been committed. Of the six hundred and eighteen records that were reviewed’ medication (17.2%) and diagnostic (40.5%) were the commonest medical errors. Health workers too mentioned medication (58%) and diagnostic (53%) as the commonest errors they had witnessed or committed in the hospitals. No formal error reporting system existed in all the hospitals. Errors committed or witnessed were mainly disclosed to supervisors and/or colleagues during handover of duty and informal interactions. Lack of feedback, fear of punishment and litigation were the major impediments to disclosing errors. Error reporting importance was highly perceived by health workers. Instituting a mechanism of formal error reporting and management should be considered by the hospitals and the ministry of health so that errors can be used as a mechanism for ‘prevention by past experience’. Keywords Medical Error, Error Reporting, Patient Safety, Quality of Healthcare 1. Introduction Despite advances in medicine and healthcare, hospitals have remained places where patients are getting harmed [1]. In a bid to save patients, healthcare workers need to be fast and sometimes provide healthcare under pressure. Healthcare is also delivered by different people, each making different decisions hence errors and mistakes may occur, causing injuries to the patients [2]. Patient safety has increasingly become an essential discipline complete with an integrated body of knowledge and expertise to improve health care [3]. One component of patient safety is reporting of errors by the healthcare providers within the hospital or healthcare organization and by the organization to a broader audience through a system- wide, regional, or national reporting system [4]. Error reporting involves detecting, recording, communicating, analyzing incidents or events occurring to patients during the process of healthcare administration with feedback and dissemination of lessons learned from the reported events [5]. An effective error-reporting system is the cornerstone of safe practice and a measure of progress towards achieving a safety culture within a healthcare organization. The practice of error reporting originated from high-reliability organizations [6]. Such organizations include the aviation, atomic and marine industries. These (high-reliability) organizations perform at peak intensity in highly risky environments with fewer incidents of errors and mistakes. Lessons from high-risk organizations are that committed