Introduction: Medical error is one of the most important problems in the health care area. As a result, identifying and reducing medical error is one of the main priorities of healthcares. Nowadays, regarding the advent of new information and communication technologies, the importance of information literacy in accessing updated information and the necessity of having residents as the first person in clinical decision makings emerges. The purpose of present study is to investigate the effect of information literacy on the awareness and attitude of residents towards medical error.Method: The present research is a cross-sectional survey study. The sample under investigation is 150 residents of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, selected through simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was information literacy and medical error questionnaires designed based on the Likert’s spectrum measurement scale. The questionnaires were distributed in two ways in person and electronics via telegram and email. The obtained data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics including Pearson correlation coefficient tests, linear regression and independent t-test.Findings: Out of 180 distributed questionnaires, 150 cases were completed and returned; 41.3% of the research sample members were men and the rest were women. The mean scores of information literacy skills among the residents of research population were equal to 3.18 and the mean scores of their awareness and attitude toward medical error was calculated equal to 3.09. The obtained results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between information literacy and awareness about medical error (P <0.001), and there is also a positive and significant relationship between information literacy and the attitude of residents towards the error (P <0/001).Discussion and Conclusion: The findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the ability of residents to use and apply information literacy skills and their awareness and attitude towards medical error. In general, it can be concluded that improving the ability level of residents to apply information literacy skills improves the performance of residents in clinical decision-making and ultimately leads to community health promotion in the future.
