ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Patient safety is a key priority for all of us as patients, providers, and decision-makers. As part of 2017's Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 12-18th), we asked individuals from different organizations to share “Why I Report”. Patients, front-line staff, managers and healthcare leaders all shared powerful reasons. 

After an amazing response from the healthcare community, we've decided to extend the campaign, in the hopes of keeping the dialogue open to empower everyone to share their reporting stories and continue to drive change.

TOOLKIT

The Patient Safety Awareness Toolkit comes with a variety of digital and ready-to-print materials for you to display throughout your organization! They can be used to engage staff in sharing why they report and promote your organization’s commitment to patient safety.

In the toolkit you will find: 

  • Customizable, ready-to-print posters
  • “Why I Report” printable word bubbles 
  • Screensavers
  • Intranet banners 
  • Social media posts

Complete the form below to download your toolkit!

WHY DID WE DO THIS?

Supporting the improvement of patient safety & quality of care is a fundamental part of what we do here at RL. According to research, reporting is a key aspect of patient safety as it is instrumental in changing provider behavior, management processes and care practice1. However, up to 86% of events are not reported to incident reporting systems2

That means decisions and initiatives are only being made from a fraction of data captured. So, we looked at the motivations behind why healthcare providers report adverse events in their organization.

By raising awareness on the power of reporting, we can help create a non-punitive culture that empowers hospital staff and patients to report. Hospitals and healthcare organizations need accurate data from the people at the forefront to create larger change. 

When reporting is done well, it can drive change for a culture of safety and be part of a just culture. And you can bring the focus to near misses and good catches as learning opportunities to prevent harm from reaching patients and employees. We want to raise awareness around reporting as one of the key elements of the larger patient safety and harm reduction picture. 

Be sure to share your stories and hashtag #WhyIReport!

DID YOU KNOW?

“Patient safety is a fundamental principle of health care” according to the World Health Organization and understanding the underlying causes and results of the events is crucial to its achievement3-4.

As many as 10% of patients admitted to an acute care facility will experience an adverse event5. Adverse events can cost approximately $13,000 USD per event, resulting in overall costs of up to $19.5 Billion6-7.

70% of reports lead to follow-up investigations and can result in substantial policy change2.


References

  1. Anderson, JE, Kodate, N, Walters, R, and Dodds, A. "Can Incident Reporting Improve Safety? Healthcare Practitioners' Views of the Effectiveness of Incident Reporting." Int J Qual Health Care. 2013; 25: 141-50.
  2. Hospital incident reporting systems do not capture most patient harm: OIG, Department of Health and Human Services. 2012.
  3. World Health Organization. Patient Safety. 2014. Available from http://www.who.int/topics/patient_safety/en/.
  4. Larizgoitia I, Bouesseau M-C, Kelley E. WHO Efforts to Promote Reporting of Adverse Events and Global Learning. J Public Health Res. 2013;2:e29.
  5. Jha AK, Prasopa-Plaizier N, Larizgoitia I, and Bates DW on behalf of the research priority setting working group of the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety. Patient safety research: an overview of the global evidence. 2010. Qual Saf Health Care; 19:42-47.
  6. Shreve, J et al. The Economic Measurement of Medical Errors. Society of Actuaries’ Health Section. 2010.
  7. Van Den Bos J, Rustagi K, Gray T, et al. The $17.1 billion problem: the annual cost of measurable medical errors. Health Aff (Millwood) 2011;30:596–603