Prospective risk analysis prior to retrospective incident reporting and analysis as a means to enhance incident reporting behaviour: A quasi-experimental field study

Health Care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis in the Operating Room Setting

OBJECTIVES

Operating rooms (ORs) and surgical settings are potential sources of sentinel adverse events. To better understand the characteristics of errors in OR processes, we performed prospective risk analysis.

METHODS

The study was mixed qualitative and quantitative research. We used the Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) method to analyze the selected perioperative, operative, and postoperative processes in the OR via a 2-round Delphi technique. We identified the most prominent failure modes according to a Hazard Decision Matrix, analyzed and categorized proposed possible causes, and provided solutions to mitigate hazard scores.

RESULTS

Ten important processes and 7 subprocesses within the OR were selected and mapped, and 187 failure modes were identified and scored on the basis of severity and probability. A total of 36 potential failure modes were highlighted as high-risk failures and moved to decision trees for further analyses.

CONCLUSION

Developing policy for the familiarization of new personnel designing a checklist for accurate gases counting; drafting comprehensive presurgical posters; preparing all necessary equipment in difficult intubation; developing instruction for monthly checking of the OR equipment; and developing the evaluation criteria of staff performance are examples of solutions that are proposed to improve the quality of OR processes.

Application of Bow-tie methodology to improve patient safety

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to apply Bow-tie methodology, a proactive risk assessment technique based on systemic approach, for prospective analysis of the risks threatening patient safety in intensive care unit (ICU). Design/methodology/approach - Bow-tie methodology was used to manage clinical risks threatening patient safety by a multidisciplinary team in the ICU. The Bow-tie analysis was conducted on incidents related to high-alert medications, ventilator associated pneumonia, catheter-related blood stream infection, urinary tract infection, and unwanted extubation. Findings - In total, 48 potential adverse events were analysed. The causal factors were identified and classified into relevant categories. The number and effectiveness of existing preventive and protective barriers were examined for each potential adverse event. The adverse events were evaluated according to the risk criteria and a set of interventions were proposed with the aim of improving the existing barriers or implementing new barriers. A number of recommendations were implemented in the ICU, while considering their feasibility. Originality/value - The application of Bow-tie methodology led to practical recommendations to eliminate or control the hazards identified. It also contributed to better understanding of hazard prevention and protection required for safe operations in clinical settings.

Trust-level risk identification guidance in the NHS East of England

BACKGROUND

In healthcare, a range of methods are used to improve patient safety through risk identification within the scope of risk management. However, there is no evidence determining what trust-level guidance exists to support risk identification in healthcare organisations. This study therefore aimed to determine such methods through the content analysis of trust-level risk management documents.

METHOD

Through Freedom of Information Act, risk management documents were requested from each acute, mental health and ambulance trust in the East of England region of NHS for content analysis. Received documents were also compared with guidance from other safety-critical industries to capture differences between the documents from those industries, and learning points to the healthcare field.

RESULTS

A total of forty-eight documents were received from twenty-one trusts. Incident reporting was found as the main method for risk identification. The documents provided insufficient support for the use of prospective risk identification methods, such as Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) methods, while the guidance from other industries extensively promoted such methods.

CONCLUSION

The documents provided significant insight into prescribed risk identification practice in the chosen region. Based on the content analysis and guidance from other safety-critical industries, a number of recommendations were made; such as introducing the use of PHA methods in the creation and revision of risk management documents, and providing individual guidance on risk identification to promote patient safety further.

Motivational mechanisms influencing error reporting among nurses

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore antecedents, namely reasons for/against error reporting, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control, of nurses’ intentions to report their errors at work.

Design/methodology/approach

– A structured equation model with cross-sectional data were estimated to test the hypotheses on a sample of 188 Italian nurses.

Findings

– Reasons for/against error reporting were associated with attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control. Further, reasons against were related to nurses’ intentions to report errors whereas reasons for error reporting were not. Lastly, perceived control was found to partially mediate the effects of reasons against error reporting on nurses’ intentions to act.

Research limitations/implications

– Self-report data were collected at one point in time.

Practical implications

– This study offers recommendations to healthcare managers on what factors may encourage nurses to report their errors.

Social implications

– Lack of error reporting prevents timely interventions. The study contributes to documenting motivations that can persuade or dissuade nurses in this important decision.

Originality/value

– This study extends prior research on error reporting that lacks a strong theoretical foundation by drawing on behavioral reasoning theory.

Improving patient safety in the ICU by prospective identification of missing safety barriers using the bow-tie prospective risk analysis model

OBJECTIVES

To improve patient safety, potential critical events should be analyzed for the existence of preventive barriers. The aim of this study was to prospectively identify existing and missing barriers using the Bow-Tie model. We expected that the analysis of these barriers would lead to feasible recommendations to improve safety in daily patient care.

METHODS

Multidisciplinary teams of doctors and nurses on a 28 bed ICU conducted the study. The Bow-Tie analysis was performed on intrahospital transportation, unplanned extubation, and communication, which led to 9 critical events. For each event, potential threats and consequences were defined and placed in a Bow-Tie diagram. Then, barriers were determined, ways to prevent the threat or limit the consequences. The barriers were defined as existing or missing and analyzed for feasibility.

RESULTS

Intrahospital transportation: this hazard led to 7 critical events, the Bow-Tie analysis to 52 missing but implementable barriers and 8 practical recommendations. For example, a pretransportation checklist.Unplanned extubation: this Bow-Tie analysis revealed 15 implementable missing barriers (of a total of 32) and led to 22 recommendations. One of them was optimizing treatment of delirium.Communication: this analysis showed 21 barriers, of which, 12 were missing but feasible to implement. These barriers led to 7 recommendations such as the need to cosign after the handover of a patient.

CONCLUSIONS

Prospective risk analysis using the Bow-Tie model proved usable to identify existing and missing barriers for potential critical events. Many missing barriers seemed feasible to implement and led to practical recommendations and improvements in patient safety.

Informal learning from error in hospitals: what do we learn, how do we learn and how can informal learning be enhanced? A narrative review

Learning from error is not just an individual endeavour. Organisations also learn from error. Hospitals provide many learning opportunities, which can be formal or informal. Informal learning from error in hospitals has not been researched in much depth so this narrative review focuses on five learning opportunities: morbidity and mortality conferences, incident reporting systems, patient claims and complaints, chart review and prospective risk analysis. For each of them we describe: (1) what can be learnt, categorised according to the seven CanMEDS competencies; (2) how it is possible to learn from them, analysed against a model of informal and incidental learning; and (3) how this learning can be enhanced. All CanMEDS competencies could be enhanced, but there was a particular focus on the roles of medical expert and manager. Informal learning occurred mostly through reflection and action and was often linked to the learning of others. Most important to enhance informal learning from these learning opportunities was the realisation of a climate of collaboration and trust. Possible new directions for future research on informal learning from error in hospitals might focus on ways to measure informal learning and the balance between formal and informal learning. Finally, 12 recommendations about how hospitals could enhance informal learning within their organisation are given.

Risk analysis and user satisfaction after implementation of computerized physician order entry in Dutch hospitals

BACKGROUND

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) in hospitals is widely considered to be important for patient safety, but implementation is lagging behind and user satisfaction is often low. Risk analysis methods may improve the implementation process and thus user satisfaction. Objective The aim of our study was to determine the association of performing risk analysis with user satisfaction after implementation of CPOE. Setting All hospitals in the Netherlands.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study using a questionnaire was performed. All Dutch hospital pharmacies were asked about the extent of implementation of CPOE in the hospitals they served, the performance of (retrospective or prospective) risk analysis and the satisfaction with CPOE of doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Only hospitals that had implemented inpatient CPOE on at least 70 % of the wards were included in the primary analysis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The primary outcome measure was the proportion of hospital pharmacists with a satisfaction level of 4 or 5 (i.e. 'satisfied'). The secondary outcome measure was the proportion of medical doctors and nurses with a satisfaction level of 4 or 5 (i.e. satisfied). The main determinant was the performance of a formal method of prospective or retrospective risk analysis.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was sent to all 79 Dutch hospital pharmacies. Questionnaires were returned by 70 hospital pharmacies, serving 72 separate hospitals. In 40 hospitals the CPOE was implemented on at least 70 % of the wards. The association of risk analysis with the proportion of satisfied users was determined within this group of 40 hospitals. For hospital pharmacists we found that the performance of risk analysis showed a statistically non-significant trend towards an association with satisfaction [OR 3.3 (95 % CI 0.8-14.1)]. For medical doctors the performance of risk analysis was associated with satisfaction [OR 10.0 (95 % CI 1.8-56.0)]. Also a statistically non-significant trend towards an association with satisfaction was found for nurses [OR 4.5 (95 % CI 0.8-24.7)].

CONCLUSION

Although not statistically significant, the user satisfaction with CPOE seems to be associated with the performance of risk analysis during the implementation of CPOE. This suggests that the CPOE implementation process can be optimized by performing risk analysis before and/or after implementation.