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[Investigation and multivariate statistical analysis of the factors influencing risk management]
Hiroaki Ikeda1, Akihiro Sawa, Eiji Sato
1Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Hiroshima University Hospital, Japan.
Insights
Medical institutions need robust risk management systems, including committees and incident reporting. Effective risk management requires clear reporting channels and improvement plans, especially for medication errors.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Medical Safety
- Quality Improvement
Context:
- Medical practitioners' awareness of risk management concepts was assessed.
- A survey of 163 practitioners explored institutional risk management practices.
- Over 50% demonstrated awareness of risk management and committees.
Purpose:
- To clarify medical practitioners' basic awareness and concepts of risk management.
- To identify factors influencing the establishment of risk management committees.
- To understand barriers and facilitators in incident reporting systems.
Summary:
- Multivariate analysis revealed that incident reporting systems, hospital bed count, and dedicated risk managers influence committee presence.
- Staff age and top executive involvement are key factors for committee operation.
- Younger practitioners expressed dissatisfaction with reporting systems, citing issues with senior staff handling of incident reports.
Impact:
- Findings underscore the importance of establishing formal risk management committees and structured incident reporting.
- Recommendations include improving reporting systems to facilitate actionable improvement plans for medication errors.
- Enhancing communication and process for incident reporting can improve patient safety and institutional risk mitigation.
Abstract:
A questionnaire survey for medical practitioners was conducted to clarify their basic awareness and concepts of risk management. One hundred and sixty-three medical practitioners participated in the fourth. Chugoku Yakugaku Kenkyukai. More than 50% of the participants (n = 83, aged 39.7 +/- 10.8 years) answered correctly questions about the awareness of risk management and the existence of a risk management committee in their medical institution. All of those survey participants had experienced common risk managements incidents (approximately 12 times/year) during working hours. When multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the survey results, the factors influencing the presence of a risk management committee in a medical institution were a system for the submission of incident reports, the number of beds, and the presence of a person assigned to manage risk. The analysis showed that in a number of cases medical institutions did not have a system for incident reports and did not appoint risk management staff. Moreover, the analysis showed that factors influencing the presence of a risk management committee were staff age, experience in submitting incident reports, and participation of the top executive in the operation of the risk management committee. Participants younger than 40 years of age were dissatisfied with the reporting system of risk management committees those older. The younger group usually reported incidents to those older than 40 years of age, who only accepted the reports and did not submit them to the risk management committee. In conclusion, our results suggest that in a risk management program it is important to establish a committee and a system for the submission of incident reports. Incident reports should not only include expressions of regret for medication errors but also propose a plan for improvement.