The Threats to Australian Patient Safety (TAPS) study: incidence of reported errors in general practice.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence of errors anonymously reported by general practitioners in NSW.


METHODS
The Threats to Australian Patient Safety (TAPS) study used anonymous reporting of errors by GPs via a secure web-based questionnaire for 12 months from October 2003.


METHODS
General practices in NSW from three groupings: major urban centres (RRMA 1), large regional areas (RRMA 2-3), and rural and remote areas (RRMA 4-7).


METHODS
84 GPs from a stratified random sample of the population of 4666 NSW GPs - 41 (49%) from RRMA 1, 22 (26%) from RRMA 2-3, and 21 (25%) from RRMA 4-7. Participants were representative of the GP source population of 4666 doctors in NSW (Medicare items billed, participant age and sex).


METHODS
Total number of error reports and incidence of reported errors per Medicare patient encounter item and per patient seen per year.


RESULTS
84 GPs submitted 418 error reports, claimed 490 864 Medicare patient encounter items, and saw 166 569 individual patients over 12 months. The incidence of reported error per Medicare patient encounter item per year was 0.078% (95% CI, 0.076%-0.080%). The incidence of reported errors per patient seen per year was 0.240% (95% CI, 0.235%-0.245%). No significant difference was seen in error reporting frequency between RRMA groupings.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study describing the incidence of GP-reported errors in a representative sample. When an anonymous reporting system is provided, about one error is reported for every 1000 Medicare items related to patient encounters billed, and about two errors are reported for every 1000 individual patients seen by a GP.
Makeham
Meredith A B
MA
Discipline of General Practice, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. makeham@ozemail.com.au
Kidd
Michael R
MR
Saltman
Deborah C
DC
Mira
Michael
M
Bridges-Webb
Charles
C
Cooper
Chris
C
Stromer
Simone
S
D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019037:Urban Health Services