Does error and adverse event reporting by physicians and nurses differ?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety Research
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Voluntary electronic error reporting systems (e-ERSs) are used in hospitals to identify medical errors and improve processes.
• e-ERSs facilitate real-time review and intervention, offering insights into hospital operations.
• A descriptive study compared reporting practices between physicians and nurses using a standardized Web-based system.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the reporting practices of physicians and nurses within electronic error reporting systems.
• To analyze the types of events reported by different healthcare professionals based on patient impact.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study analyzed 266,224 events reported across 29 acute care hospitals and one long-term care organization.
• Data were collected from August 2000 to January 2006 using a secure, Web-based electronic error reporting system.
• Events were classified by patient impact, and reporter roles (physician, nurse, other) were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Nurses reported 45.3% of events, physicians 1.1%, and other employees 53.6%.
• Physicians were more likely to report events with severe patient harm (permanent harm, near death, death).
• Nurses were more likely to report events with no or temporary patient harm.

Conclusions:

• Physicians report a narrower range of events compared to nurses, with reporting increasing with event severity.
• Nurses demonstrated consistent reporting across all impact levels.
• Differences in reporting practices necessitate encouraging greater physician participation in adverse event reporting.