Patient safety and incident reporting: survey of Italian healthcare workers.
BACKGROUND
Incident-reporting systems (IRS) are tools that allow front-line healthcare workers to voluntary report adverse events and near misses. The WHO has released guidelines that outline the basic principles on how to design and implement successful IRS in healthcare organisations.


METHODS
A written survey was administered with an assisted self-assessment technique to a representative sample of healthcare workers in Italian hospitals with and without IRS. Data were collected using two different 16-item questionnaires. The questionnaires targeted two issues: (1) workers' experience of patient safety incidents and (2) their expectations on incident reporting.


RESULTS
70% of respondents confirmed involvement in a patient safety incident, but only 40% utilised an IRS to formally report the event. The data indicate that information regarding patient safety incidents is not communicated throughout the entire organisation.


CONCLUSIONS
Research findings are consistent with the available evidence on healthcare workers' experience of patient safety incidents.
Center for Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety, Tuscany Region Italy, Via Taddeo Alderotti 26n, 50126 Florence, Italy. sara.albolino@regione.toscana.it
Sara
S
Albolino
Riccardo
R
Tartaglia
Tommaso
T
Bellandi
Anna Maria Vincenza
AM
Amicosante
Elisa
E
Bianchini
Annibale
A
Biggeri
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D061214:Patient Safety; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012308:Risk Management / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014944:World Health Organization