Design and Validation of the First Electronic Registry System for Reporting Medical Errors in the Primary Health Care System in Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Student Research Committee, Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

2 Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

3 Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

4 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

5 College of Arts & Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

6 Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Health Behavior Science Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract


Introduction: Patient safety is one of the priorities in all care systems in the world. Unsafe
care can cause harm to patients and increase the mortality and morbidity rate. Establishing an
error reporting system is one of the initial steps toward improvement in the quality of care in
primary health care. The aim of this study was to set and validate the first electronic reporting
system for primary care in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Methods: To design and create an electronic error reporting system, we designed a data
collection form and validated it by the experts; then, the tool was designed and revalidated to
capture the errors and design automatic report forms. Finally, the modifications were made
in the software. The software had been implemented in selected comprehensive health centers
in Bandar Abbas for 8 months.
Results: The registry is designed to include two main sections, including general information
on medical errors (demographic information, type of event, error severity, error occurrence
location, pre-error training, preventable error, causes of error, error identification source,
and error detection time) and classification of medical errors (care errors, vaccination errors,
environmental and occupational health errors, laboratory errors, and imaging errors).
Conclusion: Managing medical errors successfully needs the establishment of a voluntary
reporting system and addressing barriers to reporting errors. This innovative error registry
system of primary care was created to collect, analyze, and disseminate information about the
frequency, types, and causes of medical errors in primary health care.

Keywords