Leveraging a Safety Event Management System to Improve Organizational Learning and Safety Culture

Abstract

Background and objectives: Safety event management systems (SEMS) are rich sources of patient safety information, which can be used to improve organizational safety culture. An ideal SEMS can accomplish this when the system is improved with the intention of increasing learning and engagement across the organization. To support a global aim of improving overall patient safety and becoming a highly reliable learning health system, focus was directed toward increasing event review and follow-up completion and using this information to drive resource allocation and improvement efforts.

Methods: A new integrated SEMS was customized, tested, and implemented based on identified organizational need. Revised policies were developed to define expectations for event review and follow-up. The new SEMS incorporated a closed-loop communication process which ensured information from events was shared with the event submitters and facilitated shared learning. The expected impacts, improved event reporting, and follow-up were studied and guided ongoing improvements.

Results: After transitioning to a new SEMS, we experienced increased overall reporting by 8.6% and improved event follow-up, demonstrated by documentation on specified system forms, by 53.7%.

Conclusions: By implementing a new, efficient, and standardized SEMS, which decentralized event management processes, the organization saw increased reporting and better engagement with patient safety event review and follow-up. Overall, these results demonstrated a stronger reporting culture, which allowed for local problem solving and improved learning from every event reported. A robust reporting culture positively impacted the overall organizational culture of safety.