Abstract
Voluntary reporting of incidents and sharing of experiences by the hospital personnel and immediate response of the management to the reports are indispensable for patient safety. We started the design and implementation of a web-based incident reporting system in May 2006. The design goals were, 1) an electronic registry with experience sharing function, 2) ease of use for all hospital personnel, 3) tools for risk managers including browsing and searching of the reports, individualized search pattern called “Favorites”, mail notification of new report, simple work flow management, real time statistics, and data export in Microsoft Excel(TM) format. We implemented the system and replaced the old paper-based reporting system in about 3 months time. Although new reporting system is far more comprehensive than previous paper one, its acceptance was good; the personnel continue to report incidents as often, about one thousand reports per month on line, and this resulted in rapid implementation of preventive measures. We expect this system to improve hospital employee’s awareness of errors and increase patient safety.
