Table 3.

Themes generated from data analysis

Main themes	Subthemes	Free codes
Organisational barriers	Reporting system [31–34, 36, 38, 39]	No proper reporting system, consumed time, long forms for reporting, heavy workload
	Definition of ME [28–31, 37, 39]	Unclear definition, no standard definition
	Management behaviour [13, 28–32, 34–39]	Punitive actions, negative response, no feedback after reporting, targeting the individual than the system, blame culture, lack of confidentiality
Professional and behavioural barriers	Personal reasons/ lawsuit [27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39]	Fear of reporting, being stigmatized, fear of legal action, forgetfulness, fear of being called incompetent or inadequate
	Knowledge of error [31, 33, 35, 38, 39]	Inadequate knowledge on what constitutes error, unable to recognize an error, unaware of error occurrence

Legend: Table 3 shows the barriers to MAE reporting by nurses