2004 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 2_55-2_69
In Japan, for essential information to promote strategies to assure patient safety, we need to estimate the frequency of patient injuries caused by health care. A development of the methodology is urgently needed. The objective of this study was to establish a methodology of a chart review to detect adverse events. We revised the chart review manual and two review forms for "The Quality in Australian Health Care Study" considering the Japanese culture of medical care. As the first step, registered nurses (RNs) screened for one or more of 18 explicit criteria indicating a potential adverse event. Based on the results of the RN screening, as the second step, physicians determined whether an adverse event had occurred. As a result, we confirmed that the adequacy of the methodology consisted of the two-step chart review in order to estimate the frequency of adverse events. We concluded that it would be possible to apply this methodology to a large national survey.
