Perceived barriers of Reporting Incidents Online Among Internal Medicine Physicians

Background: Incident reporting systems (IRS) facilitate incidents' reporting and tracking, and help in identifying gaps in health care (HC). Learnings from incident reports (IR) are extremely valuable. This study aimed to assess physician's knowledge and experience with an online IRS in a large tertiary academic institution and to identify barriers of reporting incidents. Methods: A 21-questions electronic online survey was sent to physicians working in the Internal Medicine Department of Hamad Medical Corporation. Results: A total of 115 physicians (76% trainees and 24% attending faculty) responded to the survey, 59% of them were aware of the availability of IRS at HMC. However, only 29% knew how to submit an online IR, and 20% have ever submitted an IR. The survey revealed that of 46% and 63% of participants are less likely to submit an IR when they or their colleague, respectively, commit an error. The main barriers of reporting incidents were, unawareness about the IRS (36%), inability to access it (26%), the perception that IR does not result in a change (13%), Also, the concern or fear of retaliation (13%). When asked about solutions, 57% recommended training and awareness, and 22% recommended sharing learnings and actions from previous IR. Conclusion: IRS is under-utilized by Internal Medicine physicians. The main barrier at the time of the survey is the lack of training and awareness. Promoting awareness and sharing previous learning and actions may improve the utilization of the IRS.