Examining the relationship between pediatric nurses' sleep quality and fatigue levels and their tendency to medical errors

This research was conducted in a relational screening model in order to reveal the relationship between pediatric nurses' sleep quality and fatigue levels and their tendency to medical errors, and to examine the level of sleep quality and fatigue level predicting their tendency to medical errors in nursing. The research was conducted between April 2022 and January 2024 in hospitals with pediatric clinics in Trabzon Province. The population of the research consisted of 178 nurses working in pediatric clinics in Trabzon. However, it was conducted with 168 pediatric nurses due to reasons such as being on sick leave or on leave and not volunteering to participate in the research. Data were collected with the "Personal Information Form", "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index", "Fatigue Severity Scale" and "Medical Error Proneness in Nursing Scale". Descriptive analysis, Mann Whitney U test for unrelated groups, Kruskal Wallis-H test, Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. In the study, the average age of pediatric nurses was 35.9±9.0 years, 38.1% worked 8-16 shifts, 35.5% were on duty three or more times a week, 66.7% worked by caring for 1-10 patients and 21.4% had a working life. It was determined that he made a medical error throughout his life. In the study, it was found that the mean score of the Fatigue Severity Scale was 44.25±10.01, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was 8.21±4.18, and the Medical Error Proneness Scale was 63.52±14.78. The study found that there was no statistically significant relationship between fatigue severity, sleep quality index and medical error proneness scores. It was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between age and working hours in the profession and Fatigue Severity Scale scores, and between the number of patients receiving daily care and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores. Marital status, education level, most worked shift and fatigue levels of pediatric nurses; between the number of patients receiving daily care and their sleep quality; It was found that there is a significant difference between the tendency to commit medical errors and the tendency to commit medical errors throughout working life. As a result of the research, it was determined that pediatric nurses experienced severe fatigue, their sleep quality was poor, and their tendency to medical errors was low.