2001 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 77-82
The development of risk management activities is now encouraged for Japanese healthcare institutions due to frequent occurrence of medical adverse events. As a tool of risk management, Osaka University Hospital has developed the computerized incident reporting, which can detect preventable events. The goal of this system is to promote voluntary reports on potential adverse events by clinical and administrative staff in the hospital and to use these findings for the prevention of errors and negligence. The system was developed based on WWW Client/Server architecture and placed in the intranet of hospital information systems. A report is registered through the form interface of WWW browser, not requiring names of staff and patients because noninjurious events are subject to reporting. The system helps analyzing root causes of events by structured data inputs as well as sharing the risk-related information across different disciplines, which results in timely decision making for improvement. Many incidents have been reported by various professionals, and already utilized for preventive interventions. Computerized incident reporting can be a great system that has enhanced timely and proactive response to potential adverse events.
