Quality lines -- Stevens 19 (2): i -- Quality and Safety in Health Care

Qual Saf Health Care 2010;19:i doi:10.1136/qshc.2010.042226
Quality lines

Quality lines
David P Stevens
Evidence for the role of the patient in safer systems
Involving patients in reporting adverse events empowers those affected by the event and captures details of events that may otherwise be unavailable. One review in this issue looks at the more general fields of patient participation in making care safer. A second review examines more specifically the effectiveness of the use of patients to report adverse events. In the latter study, publications were reviewed with an eye to patient population, type of healthcare setting, contact method, reporting method, duration, terminology, and reported response rate. Higher adverse event rates were observed when reporting systems used open-ended questions than when closed-ended questions were used. The importance of the obligation that the healthcare organisation had to solicited reports and standardisation of terminology were key recommendations. Study of patient reports can enhance patient safety by increasing follow-up by healthcare providers, allows for analysis of trends, identification …

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Quality lines -- Stevens 19 (2): i -- Quality and Safety in Health Care