Purpose
The study aimed to classify patient safety accident and nursing malpractice types through a content analysis of litigation cases in which nurses were found guilty.
Methods
Data on malpractice cases were collected from the official website of the Korean judiciary. This analysis was conducted in stages according to the systematic content analysis method. A total of 46 cases consisting of 14 criminal cases and 32 civil cases were selected for analysis, and classified based on the types of safety accident and nursing malpractice.
Results
Eleven categories and 14 subcategories of accidents were extracted from 71 significant statements. The 11 categories of accidents consisted of falls, medication, burns, treatment, diet, medical equipment, delivery, exams, surgery, infection, and suicide. Five categories and 14 subcategories of nursing malpractice were extracted from 71 significant statements. The five categories of malpractice were as follows: failure to take affirmative action to prevent accidents, monitor, follow guidelines, use equipment properly, and reports.
Conclusion
These findings highlight the importance of nurses’ independent roles as patients’ safety managers. It can be used as primary data to develop organizational and educational support for nurses seeking to perform their professional roles in ensuring patient safety.

Citations

• Effects of Discussion-Based Legality-Focused Nursing Record Education on Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Self-Confidence, and Nursing Record Performance
  Dohye Kim, Kyoungrim Kang, Jeongyeong Jeon
  Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing.2025; 32(1): 14.     CrossRef
• Development of Guidelines for the Delegation of Nursing Tasks in Integrated Nursing Care Service
  Yeojin Yi, Haena Lim, Ji-Mee Kim, Jung-Hee Song
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2024; 30(2): 114.     CrossRef
• Characteristics of Nursing-related Patient Safety Incidents and Qualitative Content Analysis: Secondary data Analysis of Medical Litigation Judgment (2014~ 2018)
  Min-Ji Kim, Won Lee, Sang-Hee Kim, So-Yoon Kim
  Quality Improvement in Health Care.2023; 29(2): 15.     CrossRef