Patient safety event reporting expectation: does it influence residents' attitudes and reporting behaviors?

Internal Medicine resident (IMR) physician reporting of patient safety events (PSEs) is suboptimal and may be related to poor attitudes toward reporting.

The objective was to evaluate the impact of a PSE reporting expectation on the rates of reporting among IMRs.

In this prospective cohort study, IMRs were informed of an expectation to submit 1 or more PSE report per month based on the ACGME core competencies. The PSE reports were collected over 9 months and compared with a 4-month baseline before the expectation. Report quality and IMRs' attitudes were also evaluated.

There was a significant and initial increase in the total number of reports. However, the number of IMRs meeting the expectation of 1 or more report per month initially rose but was not sustained over the 9-month observational period. Report quality and IMRs attitudes toward reporting were positive but unchanged over time.

Although a reporting expectation increased the total number of reports, the majority of IMRs did not maintain a 1 or more PSE report per month despite positive attitudes.