Video intervention to improve incident reporting among medical trainees

Improving graduate medical trainee involvement with patient safety and incident reporting is an important task in teaching hospitals that has been recognised across the country and led to numerous efforts to address barriers to incident reporting. A variety of studies have started to define the reasons why trainees are not optimally involved and interventions that may be helpful. The present study aims to add to this literature by primarily addressing barriers that can be considered 'non-technical' such as fears surrounding potential professional repercussions after submitting a report, perceptions that reporting incidents is not useful, and concerns about anonymity.

Barriers to incident reporting were previously analysed at our institution. A video was produced to directly target the barriers discovered. A 2-hour educational session was delivered which included the video intervention. The educational session was part of the standard patient safety curriculum at our institution. Paper surveys were used to capture changes in perceived barriers to incident reporting. Baseline and postintervention surveys were analysed for changes using t-tests and a p value of <0.05 to determine significance. Survey development included literature review, patient safety expert discussion and cognitive interviews.

Perceived knowledge about the reporting process significantly improved after the intervention (t=-4.49; p<0.05). Attitudes about reporting also significantly improved with reduction in fear of negative consequences and anonymity. Perceptions of reporting being a futile activity were also diminished after the intervention.

This study demonstrates that targeting non-technical barriers to incident reporting with a video intervention is an effective way to improve perceived knowledge and attitude about incident reporting.