Determining the Level of Tendency in Malpractice Among Nurses

Objective: this study aims to determine the level of proneness to malpractice among nurses. method: this is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. this study was performed with the voluntary participation of 203 nurses working in clinics of ankara numune training, and research hospital. the data were collected by using “malpractice trend scale in nursing”. results: the proneness to malpractice among nurses was low. the mean score for malpractice trend scale was found as x =4.74±0.46 of all subscales, the highest score came from communication ( x =4.86±0.39), while the lowest scores came from the patient monitoring and the safety of medical equipment ( x = 4.63±0.59), and the prevention of falls ( x =4.63±0.57). there was a weakly significant relationship (r=0.139) between the tendency in malpractice, long working hours and the subscales of communication (p<0.05). moreover, a statistically significant difference was found between the communication scores and working hours. conclusion: despite the obtained low scores, it should be noted that nurses might tend to respond the questions affirmatively due to the absence of a culture of patient safety in turkey.