title: Measuring system safety for laboratory test ordering and results management in primary care: international pilot study.
abstract: The systems-based management of laboratory test ordering and results handling is a significant patient safety concern in primary care internationally. In this pilot study, we describe the testing of a method to systematically measure and monitor compliance with basic safe performance in this area in different European primary care settings. The findings show high overall compliance with the safe system measures developed although the data indicates performance variation within and between the different systems audited, which suggests that aspects of the reliability (and safety) of these systems could be improved by care teams. However, the overall utility of the method is still to be determined and this will require testing on a greater scale in more diverse practices with larger samples of patients and blood tests, and using different technology support systems.
authors.affiliation: Medical Directorate, NHS Education for Scotland, 2 Central Quay, GLASGOW, Scotland, United Kingdom, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, UK;, Email: Paul.Bowie@nes.scot.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bowie
authors.affiliation: NHS Education for Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Medical Protection Society, UK & Ireland.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Catalan Ministry of Health, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frigola
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kosiek
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verstappen
authors.affiliation: NHS Education for Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McKay