Multidisciplinaire aanpak van patiëntveiligheid op de kinder-IC

objective

To increase patient safety and thereby the quality of care in a level 3 paediatric surgical intensive care unit in a university medical centre with approximately 550 admissions per year.

design

Descriptive study.

methods

Various methods were introduced for measuring incident reporting, recording of complications, protocol evaluation and observance, and structured training. Three different methods for the analysis of incidents were used.

results

On average 125 incidents were reported monthly; about 25% of patients developed 1 or more complications; and on average 5 violations of nursing protocols occurred per patient.

conclusion

Introducing an effective safety management system in a clinical unit according to standards set by the Dutch Standardization Institute is feasible, provided that a safe and open culture is present. Nevertheless, underreporting of incidents and complications remains an issue. The change in culture is a slowly evolving process and implementing targeted improvements has not yet resulted in better care, mostly due to the short time the project has been running.