Table 3

Socio-demographic and educational variables of the study participants stratified by perceived knowledge of medication error definition (N = 212).

Characteristic
Knowledge of Medication Errors



No (n = 47)
Yes (n = 165)
p-value

Age, mean ± SD, in years
43 ± 17
31 ± 11
<0.001
Age category, n (%)



     15–24 years
5 (11%)
47 (28%)
<0.001
     25–34 years
10 (21%)
67 (41%)

     35–44 years
11 (23%)
27 (16%)

     >44 years
21 (45%)
24 (15%)

Gender, n (%)



     Female
18 (38%)
82 (50%)
0.167
     Male
29 (62%)
83 (50%)

Educational Level, n (%)



     Illiterate
17 (36%)
18 (11%)
<0.001
     Reads & writes/preparatory
27 (57%)
120 (72%)

     Secondary and above
3 (6%)
27 (16%)

Marital Status, married, n (%)
40 (85%)
108 (65%)
0.010
Family Income, n (%), in OR



     <200
23 (49%)
43 (26%)
0.004
     200 – 500
20 (43%
82 (50%)

     >500
4 (9%)
40 (24%)

Usual Source of Healthcare, n (%)



     Local Health Center
33 (70%)
108 (65%)
0.272
     Local Hospital
6 (13%)
20 (12%)

     Private Hospital
7 (15%)
37 (22%)

     Others (e.g. Traditional Healer)
1 (2%)
0 (0%)

Frequency of Healthcare Use, n (%)



     1–5
2 (4.3%)
13 (7.9%)
0.787
     6–10
21 (45%)
72 (44%)

     >10
24 (51%)
80 (48%)

History of Chronic Disease, n (%)
22 (47%)
75 (45%)
0.869
Seeing a Doctor Regularly, n (%)
26 (55%)
98 (59%)
0.617

SD = Standard deviation; Percents are column percents; OR = Omani Rials; Differences between groups were analyzed using Student's t-test, Pearson's χ2 test, and Fisher's Exact test whenever appropriate.

Al-Mandhari et al. BMC Medical Ethics 2008 9:13   doi:10.1186/1472-6939-9-13