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What can patients tell us about the quality and safety of hospital care? Findings from a UK multicentre survey study.
- Source :
- BMJ Quality & Safety; Sep2018, Vol. 27 Issue 9, p673-682, 10p, 4 Charts, 1 Graph
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Background Patient safety measurement remains a global challenge. Patients are an important but neglected source of learning; however, little is known about what patients can add to our understanding of safety. We sought to understand the incidence and nature of patient-reported safety concerns in hospital. Methods Feedback about the experience of safety within hospital was gathered from 2471 inpatients as part of a multicentre, waitlist cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention, undertaken within 33 wards across three English NHS Trusts, between May 2013 and September 2014. Patient volunteers, supported by researchers, developed a classification framework of patient-reported safety concerns from a random sample of 231 reports. All reports were then classified using the patient-developed categories. Following this, all patient-reported safety concerns underwent a two-stage clinical review process for identification of patient safety incidents. Results Of the 2471 inpatients recruited, 579 provided 1155 patient-reported incident reports. 14 categories were developed for classification of reports, with communication the most frequently occurring (22%), followed by staffing issues (13%) and problems with the care environment (12%). 406 of the total 1155 patient incident reports (35%) were classified by clinicians as a patient safety incident according to the standard definition. 1 in 10 patients (264 patients) identified a patient safety incident, with medication errors the most frequently reported incident. Conclusions Our findings suggest that patients can provide insight about safety that complements existing patient safety measurement, with a frequency of reported patient safety incidents that is similar to those obtained via case note review. However, patients provide a unique perspective about hospital safety which differs from and adds to current definitions of patient safety incidents. Trial registration number ISRCTN07689702; preresults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- HOSPITALS
CLUSTER analysis (Statistics)
COMMUNICATION
CONCEPTUAL structures
INTERPERSONAL relations
MEDICAL quality control
MEDICAL cooperation
MEDICATION errors
HEALTH outcome assessment
PATIENT safety
RESEARCH
RESEARCH funding
STATISTICAL sampling
RANDOMIZED controlled trials
PATIENTS' attitudes
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20445415
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- BMJ Quality & Safety
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 131309702
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-006974