Institutional disclosure: promise and problems.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Disclosure of unintended harm is crucial for patient safety.
• Healthcare organizations are slow to adopt disclosure programs.
• Fear of litigation is often cited as a primary barrier.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the rationale for prompt and honest disclosure of care-related unintended harm.
• To identify barriers hindering healthcare organizations from disclosing adverse events.
• To examine factors beyond legal concerns that affect disclosure.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of factors influencing disclosure practices.
• Review of existing literature on adverse event reporting.
• Identification of facilitators and obstacles to disclosure.

Main Results:

• Fear of legal action is a significant, but not the sole, barrier.
• Social and non-jurisprudential factors present substantial challenges.
• Multiple facilitators and obstacles influence disclosure of serious harm.

Conclusions:

• Adoption of disclosure programs is hindered by complex factors.
• Addressing non-legal barriers is essential for improving transparency.
• Effective disclosure requires understanding multifaceted challenges beyond litigation concerns.