Objective: This study aims to determine the likelihood that rural nurses perceive a hypothetical medication error would be reported in their workplace.

Design: This employs cross-sectional survey using hypothetical error scenario with varying levels of harm.

Setting: Clinical settings in rural Tasmania.

Participants: Participants were 116 eligible surveys received from registered and enrolled nurses.

Main outcome measures: Frequency of responses indicating the likelihood that severe, moderate and near miss (no harm) scenario would ‘always’ be reported or disclosed.

Results: Eighty per cent of nurses viewed a severe error would ‘always’ be reported, 64.8% a moderate error and 45.7% a near-miss error. In regards to disclosure, 54.7% felt this was ‘always’ likely to occur for a severe error, 44.8% for a moderate error and 26.4% for a near miss. Across all levels of severity, aged-care nurses were more likely than nurses in other settings to view error to ‘always’ be reported (ranging from 72–96%, P = 0.010 to 0.042,) and disclosed (68–88%, P = 0.000). Those in a management role were more likely to view error to ‘always’ be disclosed compared to those in a clinical role (50–77.3%, P = 0.008–0.024).

Conclusion: Further research in rural clinical settings is needed to improve the understanding of error management and disclosure.