The study examined nurses’ perception of patient safety incident and the impact of workload in Ondo State, Nigeria. In this study, perceptions of nurses in Ondo state, Nigeria regarding the patient safety incidents; the need for establishing patient safety incident, the processes of patient safety incident, and factors that can impede successful implementation of patient safety incident were examined. The study was a cross sectional descriptive survey that employed quantitative method. The study population comprised of 260 nurses working in the hospital. The researcher purposely selected 100 nurses as study participants. The questionnaire used was self-explanatory, researcher-developed and divided into nine sections. The instrument was subjected to face and content validity. Internal consistency method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The reliability index was calculated using Cronbach’s Alpha which yielded reliability coefficient value of 0.798. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions. The results of the study suggest that nurses perceive the culture in public hospitals of Nigeria to be castigatory and that individuals are not comfortable in reporting errors. Gynecology and maternity ward was most represented of the nurse respondent with 41%. The highest qualification obtained by the respondents was Master of Science in nursing (5%) while majority of the participants have Bachelor of Science in nursing (61%). The participants perceived that the culture of patient safety in public hospital should be a priority. Uncomfortable in reporting errors (62%), and that workload interferes with their ability to practice patient safety (62%). The barriers stated by the participants include; too much workload and stress is the top barrier to patient safety incident. Most nurse participants acknowledged the need for patient safety incident. Considering these obstacles to patient safety incident, a pragmatic approach is needed for successful establishment of patient safety incident.

Keywords: disclosure, patient safety, medical errors, workload, patient rights, nurses’ perception,

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