Investigating Electronic Incident Reporting Systems and Its Role Within Healthcare to Improve Patient Safety: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Incident reporting is a welcomed practice in industries such as aviation for improving safety. This practice is now welcomed in healthcare in many countries (Vincent, 2010). For instance, In the UK, incident reporting is a component of individual hospital risk governance processes and a key requirement for National Health Service (NHS) Organizations (Rooksby et al., 2007). In spite of this, widespread implementation of incident reporting is still not clear even though reporting has resulted in improvements to safety. Vincent et al. (2008) cited that recent studies of incident reporting suggest that its role in managing safety has been over emphasized and there should be less emphasis on counting incidents and more emphasis on analyzing the effectiveness of incidents and institutional learning (Braithwaite et al., 2011). Most studies of incident reporting have focused on factors, such as staff willingness to report incidents, barriers to incident reporting, and the culture surrounding reporting. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of electronic incident reporting systems in improving safety, and there is little evidence regarding how the technology contributes to safety (Anderson et al., 2013). For this reason, the purpose of this study was to investigate electronic incident reporting systems and its role within healthcare to improve patient safety. By focusing on this, the researcher was successful in highlighting a series of behaviors and perceptions around electronic incident reporting. Equally important, the researcher provided several themes that has been known to both inhibit and promote confidence within this technology offering. Thereafter, the researcher then suggested strategies for healthcare leaders to consider when adopting as a means to help bridge the gap between healthcare workers and electronic incident reporting systems.