Application of systems analysis to safety incident investigations in a single centre using anaesthesia as an example

Systems analysis is widely recommended for patient safety investigations in medicine, but the method is poorly described in the veterinary literature.

Anaesthetic safety incidents were discussed in debriefs and then reported on standardised forms. Investigators performed informal interviews with team members involved in case management and interrogated clinical records. Finally, incidents were discussed during morbidity and mortality conferences. Systems analysis involved developing a timeline for the case, identifying any care delivery problems (CDPs) that occurred and contributing factors associated with them, and developing control measures to reduce system weaknesses.

From 15 incidents, 32 CDPs were identified. These were categorised into 11 thematic groups. Misdiagnosis (n = 8), human resource allocation (n = 8), failure in planning (n = 6) and technical error (n = 5) were most frequent. Individual factors were identified in 15 (100%), team factors in 12 (80.0%), animal and owner factors in 11 (73.3%), organisation factors in 10 (66.7%), work environmental factors in 10 (66.7%) and task and technology factors in four (26.7%) investigations. Numerous immediate and longer term recommendations were made regarding how to manage systems weaknesses.

Investigations were limited to pre-procedural anaesthetic safety incidents.

Systems analysis applied to incident investigations can highlight areas for improvement within veterinary healthcare systems.