Event reporting to a primary care patient safety reporting system: a report from the ASIPS collaborative.
BACKGROUND
We examined reports to a primary care, ambulatory, patient safety reporting system to describe types of errors reported and differences between anonymous and confidential reports.


METHODS
Applied Strategies for Improving Patient Safety (ASIPS) is a demonstration project designed to collect and analyze medical error reports from clinicians and staff in 2 practice-based research networks: the Colorado Research Network (CaReNet) and the High Plains Research Network (HPRN). A major component of ASIPS is a voluntary patient safety reporting system that accepts reports of errors anonymously or confidentially. Reports are coded using a multiaxial taxonomy.


RESULTS
Two years into this project, 33 practices with a total of 475 clinicians and staff have participated in ASIPS. Participants submitted 708 reports during this time (66% using the confidential reporting form). We successfully followed up on 84% of the confidential reports of interest within the allotted 10-day time frame. We ended up with 608 relevant, codable reports. Communication problems (70.8%), diagnostic tests (47%), medication problems (35.4%), and both diagnostic tests and medications (13.6%) were the most frequently reported errors. Confidential reports were significantly more likely than anonymous reports to contain codable data.


CONCLUSIONS
A safe and secure reporting system that relies on voluntary reporting from clinicians and staff can be successfully implemented in primary care settings. Information from confidential reports appears to be superior to that from anonymous reports and may be more useful in understanding errors and designing interventions to improve patient safety.
Fernald
Douglas H
DH
Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, CO 80045-0508, USA. doug.fernald@uchsc.edu
Pace
Wilson D
WD
Harris
Daniel M
DM
West
David R
DR
Main
Deborah S
DS
Westfall
John M
JM
D003219:Confidentiality; D003625:Data Collection; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors; D011320:Primary Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012308:Risk Management; D013597:Systems Analysis