[Patient safety in outpatient care - study of Swiss primary care offices]

Knowledge of the most frequent and relevant safety problems is necessary in order to identify areas of risk in patient safety and to specify need for action. For Switzerland, there was no data available that systematically describes the type and frequency of critical incidents in outpatient care. Due to differences in primary care systems world wide, the transfer of international data to the Swiss context is of limited validity. For this reason the Patient Safety Foundation conducted a research project in cooperation with partners from primary care practice. We analysed the frequency and severity of patient safety risks in primary care offices as well as the safety climate in those practices. Results of the survey show the following areas of risk are of high relevance: medication, triage by nurse at initial contact (by phone), diagnosis as well as failures to monitor patients in the office. In addition, errors in tests and therapeutic interventions should be prioritized for future action. Several differences between professional groups could be identified regarding the perception and estimation of critical incidents as with respect to the safety climate. In conclusion, physicians and nurses should be involved when analysing risks and developing measures in order to insure high quality standards in patient care.