General Patient Safety Research
Clinical audit and quality Improvement - time for a
rethink? (Paul Bowie, Nicholas A. Bradley, Rosemary
Rushmer, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical
Practice, February 2012) [link - requires Athens
log-in]
Evidence of the benefits of clinical audit to patient care is
limited, despite its longevity. Additionally, numerous attitudinal,
professional and organizational barriers impede its effectiveness.
Yet, audit remains a favoured quality improvement (QI) policy
lever. Growing interest in QI techniques suggest it is timely to
re-examine audit. Clinical audit advisors assist health care teams,
so hold unique cross-cutting perspectives on the strategic and
practical application of audit in NHS organizations. This
article aims to explore their views and experiences of
their role in supporting health care teams in the audit
process.
- Also see the HQIP
"Guide to using quality improvement tools to drive clinical
audits"
Medication safety: using incident data analysis and clinical focus
groups to inform educational needs (Hannah Hesselgreaves,
Anne Watson, Andy Crawford, Murray Lough, Paul Bowie, Journal
of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, November 2011) [link -
requires Athens log-in]
Medication-related safety incidents are a source of concern to
patients, policy makers and clinicians. The role of education in
improving safety-critical practices in health care is poorly
appreciated. This pilot study aimed to initiate collective
discussion among professional groups of clinical staff about a
range of medicine-related patient safety issues which were
identified from a local incident reporting system. In engaging
staff to collectively reflect on reported medication
incidents the authors of this article attempted to
uncover a deeper understanding of local contextual issues and
potential educational needs.
Patient Safety: Cost Implications of Adverse
Health Events (draft, November 2010) [PDF]
- This paper, by Mudenda Munkombwe, discusses the cost
implications of adverse events experienced by patients. While
the human harm to patients resulting from adverse events is
acknowledged, the discussion in this paper is concerned with
highlighting the cost implications pressurising health service
budgets. Such economic data could guide organisations in patient
safety improvement strategies.
Overview of Patient
Safety - National and International (August 2009) [PDF]
- This document gives a brief overview of the main
national and international Patient Safety agencies and
approaches.
Evidence-based
patient safety healthcare curriculum developments (working
document, July 2009) [PDF]
- There are many institutions researching new patient
safety methodology and tools both in the UK and internationally. It
is important that NES continues to be aware of this research since
this should generally influence the teaching of the next generation
of health care professions. However it is also important to
recognise that introducing new patient safety curricula to
healthcare professionals in Scotland is not enough to reduce
adverse affects on the public by healthcare professionals; all new
curricula (or curricula changes) need to be fit for purpose for
healthcare staff in Scotland. In this summary, a number of new
tools are described which support patient safety improvements. The
universities and NES could consider using some of these methods to
strengthen patient safety teaching.
Summary of Patient
Safety Workforce Development and Educational Strategies and
Policies from other countries and organisations (July
2009) [PDF]
- This document contains a survey of Patient Safety
educational strategies and policies from the UK, Europe and
selected other countries, along with summaries of various quality
improvement reviews.
