Medical Error Disclosure: Developing Evidence-Based Guidelines for Chinese Hospitals

This study aims to investigate Chinese individuals' expectations regarding the disclosure of errors that vary in level of harm severity and to develop guidelines for error disclosure.

A total of 947 valid responses were collected from a questionnaire survey in 2019, and 220 respondents or their family members had experienced medical errors. The respondents were required to indicate their preferences regarding the disclosure of errors that entail moderate and severe harm. Based on their responses and interviews conducted with several patient safety managers, guidelines for medical error disclosure were developed.

Similar preferences were reported for the disclosure of errors that entail moderate and severe harm. They expected a formal disclosure. Furthermore, they wished to be informed about the error through face-to-face communication in a meeting room immediately after error detection. Moreover, they wanted to be provided with all details about the incident. The health care provider who was involved in the incident, the leader of his/her department/team, the patient safety manager, and top management member were expected to attend the meeting. However, there was a significant difference in who was expected to disclose errors that entail moderate (i.e., the health care provider involved in the incident) and severe (i.e., the leader, top management member) harm.

Medical error disclosure is not commonly practiced in Chinese hospitals. Therefore, the proposed guidelines could be the first step toward disclosure supporting. In addition, the present findings underscore the importance of cultural sensitivity and error severity in international error disclosure research and practice.