A Qualitative Analysis of Resident Adverse Event Reporting: What’s Holding Us Back
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Thomas J. Walk; Alda Maria Gonzaga; Susan Zickmund; Gregory M. Bump; Megan Hamm; John Szymusiak; Maggie Benson
- Source
- American Journal of Medical Quality. 35:155-162
- Subject
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Attitude of Health Personnel
Graduate medical education
Truth Disclosure
03 medical and health sciences
Patient safety
0302 clinical medicine
Qualitative analysis
Humans
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
Adverse effect
Risk Management
Medical Errors
business.industry
030503 health policy & services
Health Policy
Internship and Residency
Human factors and ergonomics
Event reporting
Focus Groups
Organizational Culture
Focus group
Family medicine
Female
Patient Safety
0305 other medical science
business
Qualitative research
- Language
- ISSN
- 1555-824X
1062-8606
This study utilized focus groups of residents, who report adverse events at differing rates depending on their hospital site, to better understand barriers to residents’ reporting and identify modifiable aspects of an institution’s culture that could encourage resident event reporting. Focus groups included residents who rotated at 3 hospitals and represented 4 training programs. Focus groups were audio recorded and analyzed using qualitative methods. A total of 64 residents participated in 8 focus groups. Reporting behavior varied by hospital culture. Residents worried about damage to their professional relationships and lacked insight into the benefits of multiple reports of the same event or how human factors engineering can prevent errors. Residents did not understand how reporting affects litigation. Residents at other academic institutions likely experience similar barriers. This study illustrates that resident reporting is modifiable by changing hospital culture, but hospitals have only a few opportunities to mishandle reporting before resident reporting attitudes solidify.