Incident Reporting Reduction during the Covid-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Italian Hospital. A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

Background Incident reporting (IR) is one of the most used systems to gain knowledge of AEs and to identify sources of risk. During COVID-19 pandemic, several organizational changes have been implemented to respond adequately and effectively to the emergency; this required the suspension of most deferrable activities. The aim of this study is to investigate whether incident reporting attitude of health workers has been reduced during the pandemic event. Method A retrospective analysis was conducted at the Azienda Ospedale – Università di Padova (Italy), considering IR of years 2019 and 2020. To standardize the effects of the decrease in admissions, we considered the number of incidents per 1,000 admissions. Results Data shows that during the first (March-May 2020) and second waves (October-December 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic there was a statistically significant reduction in the rate of incident reporting for every 1,000 admissions (p=0.001 – Wilcoxon test), especially for adverse events and in COVID-19 units. Conclusion This study shows a reduction in incident reporting especially during the first and second pandemic waves of COVID-19 in year 2020. Education and training interventions could be fundamental to raise awareness of the importance of incident reporting in health workers, as this could provide opportunities to understand what is impacting on safety in a particular healthcare context and enable continuous improvement.

The Relationship Between Patient Safety Culture and the Intentions of the Nursing Staff to Report a Near-Miss Event During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…We did not find similar reports in the literature to support our research data probably because the issue of intention to report a near-miss event is not widely published in general, particularly not during the COVID-19 crisis. However, this finding is similar to results in other studies that examined perception of patient safety culture during COVID-19 14,16,17. Some of the data are also consistent with studies completed before COVID-19.…”

“…16 In this specific study, the actual infrastructure of the hospital was found to be lacking, in terms of the building, water and electricity breaks, beds without sides, and oxygen bottles without a stand and not well secured to the wall. 16 A significant positive relationship was found between most components of patient safety culture and intentions to report near-miss events, similar to other studies. 5,10,11,20 Years of experience was the only demographic data point that showed a significantly positive relationship with all 3 components of patient safety culture, intention to report a near-miss event, and actual reporting of near-miss events.…”

“…The team also cited the lack of equipment and protective equipment. The issue of poor departmental organization has not been linked to patient safety to date in the literature, except for one study in which the issue was broached 16. In this specific study, the actual infrastructure of the hospital was found to be lacking, in terms of the building, water and electricity breaks, beds without sides, and oxygen bottles without a stand and not well secured to the wall 16…”

“…Several studies found a decrease in reporting of errors during COVID-19. This tendency may well increase the risk of harm to patients and prevent a medical center from fulfilling its function to provide safe, quality care 16,17. Few studies have examined the relationship between patient safety culture and the intention to report a near-miss event, and even fewer have studied the issue during the time of a health crisis such as COVID-19.…”

Adverse Events in Maternal Care: Investigating Racial/Ethnic Disparities at the System Level

“…Nursing staff turnover, specifically in L&D, resulted in additional use of contract nurse who may not report incidents as often. The increasing demands place on staff during the pandemic potentially reduced reporting opportunities or impacted safety attitudes (Denning et al, 2020;Pauletti et al, 2021).…”