[The evolution of the Critical Incident Reporting System in an Austrian university hospital]

Critical Incident Reporting Systems (CIRS) are an important tool to identify potential hazards in healthcare. However, in Europe CIR systems are differently used with respect to whether its use is voluntary or mandatory. The aim of the present paper was to describe the development of the recently implemented CIRS in the University Hospital Graz.

In 2012, in a pilot unit CIRS was implemented within an intensive care unit. After evaluating its results, CIRS was then implemented in all organizational units of the University Hospital Graz in 2013. The definition of a CIRS report as well as the processing of CIRS reports was described in a CIRS manual.

On average, 1.6 CIRS reports per week were submitted in the University Hospital Graz. Compared to data from a university hospital in Switzerland (27 CIRS reports per week), it becomes evident that, in general, CIRS is used, but the question arises whether CIRS is commonly known and whether information on the proceeding of CIRS cases is sufficiently transparent.

Overall, the implementation of CIRS is relatively simple, but in order to achieve acceptance and thereby continuous reports, trust and a value-free handling of critical reports is required. Meetings with openly discussed case analysis could help to increase the awareness of CIRS among healthcare professionals. In Europe CIR systems are used in different ways. In Austria, both an academic exchange process on how to use CIRS and a common definition of CIRS reports has so far been lacking. The preparation of a guidance document for Austria is recommended.