Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses
BACKGROUND: Little is known about primary care professionals’ concerns about risks to patient safety. AIM: To identify threats to patient safety in the primary care office from the perspective of physicians and nurses. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey; participants were aske...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW)
2012-06-01
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| Series: | Swiss Medical Weekly |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1504 |
| _version_ | 1797979631249260544 |
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| author | David Schwappach Katrin Gehring Markus Battaglia Roman Buff Felix Huber Peter Sauter Markus Wieser |
| author_facet | David Schwappach Katrin Gehring Markus Battaglia Roman Buff Felix Huber Peter Sauter Markus Wieser |
| author_sort | David Schwappach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BACKGROUND: Little is known about primary care professionals’ concerns about risks to patient safety.
AIM: To identify threats to patient safety in the primary care office from the perspective of physicians and nurses.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey; participants were asked to name and rank threats to safety they personally were most concerned about.
SETTING: Physicians and nurses working in primary care offices in Switzerland.
METHODS: Verbatim reports were analysed under an inductive content-analysis framework. Coded threats were quantitatively analysed in terms of frequency and prioritisation. Differences between physicians and nurses were analysed.
RESULTS: Of 1260 invited individuals, 630 responded to the survey and 391 (31%) described 936 threats to patient safety. The coding system included 29 categories organised in 5 themes. Agreement of coders was good (kappa = 0.87, CI = 0.86–0.87). Safety of medication (8.8%), triage by nurses (7.2%) and drug interactions (6.8%) were the threats cited most frequently. Errors in diagnosis (OR = 0.21, CI 0.09–0.47, p <0.001), drug interactions (OR = 0.10, CI 0.04–0.25, p <0.001) and compliance of patients (OR = 0.28, CI 0.08–0.96, p = 0.044) were more likely to be cited by physicians. X-rays (OR = 3.34, CI 1.04–10.71, p = 0.043), confusion of patients or records (OR = 3.28, CI 1.55–6.94, p = 0.002), hygiene (OR = 3.21, CI1.12–9.19, p = 0.030), safety of office rooms (OR = 6.70, CI 1.46–30.73, p = 0.014), and confidentiality (OR = 7.38, CI 1.63–33.50, p = 0.010) were more likely to be described by nurses.
CONCLUSION: Physicians and nurses are concerned about diverse threats to patient safety in primary care. Involving both groups in detection and analysis of risks in medical offices seems a valuable strategy to improve collaboration and safety.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:41:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d4ebee6da2194274aafa3b08b770fb66 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-3997 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:41:43Z |
| publishDate | 2012-06-01 |
| publisher | SMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Swiss Medical Weekly |
| spelling | doaj.art-d4ebee6da2194274aafa3b08b770fb662022-12-22T04:42:31ZengSMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW)Swiss Medical Weekly1424-39972012-06-01142232410.4414/smw.2012.13601Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nursesDavid SchwappachKatrin GehringMarkus BattagliaRoman BuffFelix HuberPeter SauterMarkus Wieser BACKGROUND: Little is known about primary care professionals’ concerns about risks to patient safety. AIM: To identify threats to patient safety in the primary care office from the perspective of physicians and nurses. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey; participants were asked to name and rank threats to safety they personally were most concerned about. SETTING: Physicians and nurses working in primary care offices in Switzerland. METHODS: Verbatim reports were analysed under an inductive content-analysis framework. Coded threats were quantitatively analysed in terms of frequency and prioritisation. Differences between physicians and nurses were analysed. RESULTS: Of 1260 invited individuals, 630 responded to the survey and 391 (31%) described 936 threats to patient safety. The coding system included 29 categories organised in 5 themes. Agreement of coders was good (kappa = 0.87, CI = 0.86–0.87). Safety of medication (8.8%), triage by nurses (7.2%) and drug interactions (6.8%) were the threats cited most frequently. Errors in diagnosis (OR = 0.21, CI 0.09–0.47, p <0.001), drug interactions (OR = 0.10, CI 0.04–0.25, p <0.001) and compliance of patients (OR = 0.28, CI 0.08–0.96, p = 0.044) were more likely to be cited by physicians. X-rays (OR = 3.34, CI 1.04–10.71, p = 0.043), confusion of patients or records (OR = 3.28, CI 1.55–6.94, p = 0.002), hygiene (OR = 3.21, CI1.12–9.19, p = 0.030), safety of office rooms (OR = 6.70, CI 1.46–30.73, p = 0.014), and confidentiality (OR = 7.38, CI 1.63–33.50, p = 0.010) were more likely to be described by nurses. CONCLUSION: Physicians and nurses are concerned about diverse threats to patient safety in primary care. Involving both groups in detection and analysis of risks in medical offices seems a valuable strategy to improve collaboration and safety. https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1504general practicemedical errorspatient safetyprimary health care |
| spellingShingle | David Schwappach Katrin Gehring Markus Battaglia Roman Buff Felix Huber Peter Sauter Markus Wieser Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses Swiss Medical Weekly general practice medical errors patient safety primary health care |
| title | Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses |
| title_full | Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses |
| title_fullStr | Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses |
| title_short | Threats to patient safety in the primary care office: concerns of physicians and nurses |
| title_sort | threats to patient safety in the primary care office concerns of physicians and nurses |
| topic | general practice medical errors patient safety primary health care |
| url | https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1504 |
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