Barriers and motivators for making error reports from family medicine offices: a report from the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network (AAFP NRN).
BACKGROUND
Reporting of medical errors is a widely recognized mechanism for initiating patient safety improvement, yet we know little about the feasibility of error reporting in physician offices, where the majority of medical care in the United States is rendered.


OBJECTIVE
To identify barriers and motivators for error reporting by family physicians and their office staff based on the experiences of those participating in a testing process error reporting study.


METHODS
Qualitative focus group study, analyzed using the editing method.


METHODS
Eight volunteer practices of the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network.


METHODS
139 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and staff who took part in 18 focus groups.


METHODS
Interview questions asked about making reports, what prevents more reports from being made, and decisions about when to make reports.


RESULTS
Four factors were seen as central to making error reports: the burden of effort to report, clarity regarding the information requested in an error report, the perceived benefit to the reporter, and properties of the error (eg, severity, responsibility). The most commonly mentioned barriers were related to the high burden of effort to report and lack of clarity regarding the requested information. The most commonly mentioned motivator was perceived benefit.


CONCLUSIONS
Successful error reporting systems for physicians' offices will need to have low reporting burden, have great clarity regarding the information requested, provide direct benefit through feedback useful to reporters, and take into account error severity and personal responsibility.
Elder
Nancy C
NC
Department of Family Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA. eldernc@fammed.uc.edu
Graham
Deborah
D
Brandt
Elias
E
Hickner
John
J
D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004501:Education, Medical; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States