2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Patient safety: Casting a spotlight on electronic medical record-related incidents
| Project/Area Number |
19K15236
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
顧 秀珠 東京工業大学, 工学院, 准教授 (20632615)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | Patient safety / Incident / EMR system / Taxonomy |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY 2020, based on the analysis results of EMR-related incident records by applying the developed taxonomy system, characteristics of these incidents have been explored. For instance, the frequent failures were because of healthcare staff’s wrong input, missing input and lacking of data check (patient data in EMR). Latent factors behind these failures included insufficient training, interruptions, varied culture between different units/departments, etc. Then, characteristics of EMR-related incidents have been almost confirmed by a questionnaire survey followed by interviews to healthcare professionals. Then, EMR-related patient safety management experience was learned from the EMR advanced countries as Norway and Denmark. Based on all the findings and advanced experience, a draft of EMR-related incident management system has been developed. It includes contents related to incident reporting, i.e., what kind of incidents should be reported, to what extent and how. Thus, a common format for EMR-related incident reporting was designed. The system also includes how to make analysis of incidents; corresponding to the analysis results, what kind of measures could be taken and how; and how to make evaluations after taking measures.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The progress of the project was delayed because of COVID-19 in FY 2020. Therefore, the progress in FY 2021 was behind the original plan but much better than FY 2020. Due to COVID-19, the observation experiment was cancelled considering the risks that no hospital would like to participate. The questionnaire survey to healthcare staff was conducted although the scale was much smaller than the original plan. The other met plan in FY 2021 was that an EMR-related incident management system was developed. EMR-related patient safety management experience was learned from EMR advanced countries. Based on all the findings, an EMR-related incident management system has been developed although it was still a draft. It includes incident reporting, i.e., what kind of incidents should be reported, to what extent and how. A common format for EMR-related incident reporting was designed. The system also includes how to make analysis of incidents; corresponding to the analysis results, what kind of measures could be taken and how, and how to make evaluations after taking measures. However, because of the big delay in FY 2020, the plan of implementing the EMR-related incident management system and validating its effectiveness was not met. Therefore, the extension of this project for another year was applied and acknowledged.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
First, the draft of the developed EMR-related incident management system will be improved. Then, according to the plan, this system will be implemented and validated its effectiveness. The developed system will be implemented after adaptation to the current hospital systems. Effectiveness of the system will be verified after implementation, using indicators such as change of EMR-related incident reporting rate, appropriateness of proposed measures, and healthcare staff and risk managers’ satisfaction.
In addition, based on the interviews with patient safety managers, concerns related to EMR system were not only safety but also other issues such as productivity and healthcare quality. Therefore, a new study that was not included in the original project is planning. The objective of this new study is to investigate whether EMR system really has positive effects on safety, productivity and healthcare quality. Data about the EMR system implementation period of all the public hospitals, indicators about safety, productivity and quality are collecting.
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| Causes of Carryover |
First, computer-related consumables such as paper and toners of printer are needed. Accordingly, costs for these expendables are included in the budget. As implementation will be conducted in hospitals, to those who cooperated in such implementation, remunerations are needed for their contributions. Then, two graduate students are required assisting in data collection, data analysis and preparation of reports. Thus, costs are needed for RA remunerations. To disseminate the results to the society and to gain experience and advice from international researchers, attending international conferences and making research discussions with foreign scholars are crucial. Therefore, registration and travelling fees of the international conferences are included in the budget plan.
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Research Products
(6 results)
