From falling elevators to wrong transfusions to medication errors, a total of eleven serious incidents in public and private hospitals have been recorded since the beginning of 2025.

Recent cases, including the death of a patient from a mistaken transfusion at Tzaneio, the EDC for allergic shock of a 22-year-old woman at Attikon, and the anaphylactic shock of a pregnant woman in Arta, bring to the fore the chain of factors that make mistakes more likely – and their correction more difficult.

As Kathimerini reports, a recent study published in the international journal AIMS Public Health by researchers from the universities of Thessaly, Patra,s and Ioannina sheds light on the silent reality of hospitals. In a sample of 514 nurses from four public hospitals, 64.4% admitted that they had made a mistake in administering medication in the last year. Of these, 62.1% never reported the error, while nearly half admitted to hiding it out of fear or guilt.

The most common errors involved the wrong medication (33.7%), wrong dose (16%) or wrong time of administration (15.4%). About one in three estimated that most errors occurred on evening shifts, when staffing is reduced.

University of Thessaly nursing professor Maria Malliarou notes that the high self-reporting of errors indicates “a climate of honesty and a need for change”. As she points out, “the rate is high, but expected – it’s the first time staff are speaking out without fear, even anonymously.”

Understaffing is a constant threat

Understaffing is, according to all experts, the key factor leading to mistakes. EKPA associate professor Petros Galanis points out that Greece has only 4.2 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, when the EU average is 8.5. In addition, 48% of nurses are over 44 years old, which contributes to physical and psychological fatigue.

Staffing, as the president of PODEDN George Avramidis points out, is still based on a 1986 presidential decree with outdated quantitative criteria. “Staffing models adapted per hospital are needed, as in Cyprus. The existing framework is outdated and dangerous,” he says.

The implication is obvious: one nurse can care for 20 patients per shift, dramatically increasing the likelihood of error. “The time for individualized care is almost eliminated,” Abramidis says.

When assistants take on nursing roles

A significant risk also arises from the fact that medical procedures are performed by nursing assistants without the necessary supervision. The incident at the Tzaneio, where a nursing assistant performed a fatal blood transfusion incorrectly, is not an isolated incident. Many evening and night shifts reportedly have only assistants or a single nurse per clinic.

Health Policy Professor Kyriakos Souliotis adds that these shifts are “the weakest link in the system”. With fewer staff and limited supervision, the risk of error is multiplied.

Powerlessness, intimidation and gaslighting

Psychological attrition of staff emerges as a central problem. According to the latest Greek studies, 65% of nurses say they are subjected to psychological manipulation (gaslighting) by superiors, 66% experience burnout and 50% are considering changing their profession.

Stressful conditions, conflict and occasional forms of harassment lead to reduced concentration and fear of reporting mistakes. “There is no confidential reporting mechanism. Nurses are silent when they fear sanctions or stigmatisation,” explains Malliarou.

The road to improvement

Experts are calling for a standard national process for reporting and monitoring errors, under the responsibility of the Health Care Quality Assurance Agency (HCQA), as well as digital audit tools that reduce the scope for human error. “When the information is cross-referenced digitally, there can be no misadministration of medicine,” says Souliotis, adding that “what is needed is a system with second and third safety nets.”