Disclosing Errors to Patients: Perspectives of Registered Nurses

Nurses conceived of the disclosure process as a team event occurring in the context of a complex health care system rather than as a physician-patient conversation. Nurses felt excluded from these discussions, resulting in their use of ethically questionable communication strategies. The findings underscore the need for organizations to adopt a team disclosure process. Health care organizations that integrate the entire health care team into the disclosure process will likely improve the quality of error disclosure.