“Stirring in the wound”: nursing errors in Brazilian and Portuguese media

Abstract

The cases involving nursing errors widely publicized in the media leave the population insecure regarding health services and the safety of nursing care. The media influences society, contributing to the formulation of concepts and opinions about health and the nursing profession services. With the aim of analysing how nursing errors are presented in Brazilian and Portuguese media today (2012-2016), this is a documentary study, using a qualitative approach, and using news articles published in major newspapers in Brazil and Portugal as data sources. The data analysis is conducted by the dialectic hermeneutics with the help of Atlas.ti software. The results were grouped into three macro categories: errors that have serious consequences for patients; linking nursing errors with criminal offense; lack of relevant information about the nursing work process that may have contributed to the error. It concludes that the media portrays superficial or partial information, failing to provide information relevant to the understanding of the phenomenon portrayed in the newspapers; and that the theme of patient safety involves several health occupations and production mechanisms, demonstrating the complex nature of the phenomenon.