Electronic Incidence reporting impact on Quality and Patient Safety: Results of Quality Improvement Project at Yarmouk Health Care Center, Kuwait

At Yarmouk Primary Health Care Center (PHCC), a continuous quality improvement and patient safety system is in place. \ Health care delivery was explored and paper-based incident reporting was found to compromise patient safety and quality. Induction of electronic reporting of incidents was started and its favorable outcome demonstrated. This was followed by establishing a continuous quality improvement process at the facility. Ethical principles were followed during data collection and analysis. Electronic Incidence reporting was started in January 2022. A substantial increase (16 in paper-based versus 53 in electronic reporting) in Incidence reporting, following introduction of electronic reporting at Yarmouk PHCC was demonstrated. A reduction of time consumption from 35 minutes in paper-based Incidence reporting to 10 minutes in electronic reporting was demonstrated. An improvement in accuracy while using electronic Incidence report (94%) in comparison to that while using Paper based Incidence reporting (85%) was documented. Maximum Incidence reporting was by Pharmacy followed by doctors, administration staff and laboratory. Maximum Incidences were product related followed by investigation related. No sentinel event reporting was found. The majority of reported incidences were in “no harm” and “near miss” categories. Employee satisfaction improved with electronic Incidence reporting. Due to advancement of technology today, it is imperative and strongly recommended to use principles of quality improvement process to improve patient safety and quality of care. Electronic Incidence reporting is found to improve quality and patient safety. Further studies into impact of better utilization of electronic Incidence reporting on health care outcomes is strongly recommended. Key words: Patient safety; Quality Improvement; Electronic Incidence reporting; Paper-based Incidence reporting