Incident Reporting Systems: How did we get here and where should we go? A narrative review

Kenzie Kao; Saad Ahmed; Reshma Pyala; Mohammed Alsabri

doi:10.18502/fem.v6i4.10441

Kenzie Kao Saba University School of Medicine, Saba, Dutch Caribbean, Netherlands.
Saad Ahmed SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, NY, USA.
Reshma Pyala Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
Mohammed Alsabri Department of Emergency Medicine, Al-Thawra Modern General Teaching Hospital, Sana’a City, Yemen.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fem.v6i4.10441

Keywords: Adverse Events; Incident Reporting System; Patient Safety; Risk Management

Abstract

Since the authoring of the seminal report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” in 2000, there has been an increased focus on patient safety and the responsibility born by the healthcare system to reduce what are known as adverse events (AE). One of the recommendations of the IOM report was the establishment and development of Incident Reporting System (IRS) that would track AE resulting in serious injury and death. The Joint Commission in the USA similarly requires all hospitals have and use an IRS. The objective of this review is to explore barriers and feature of IRS and patient safety.