The contribution of legal medicine in clinical risk management.
Adverse event
Clinical risk management
Medico-legal evaluation
Professional liability
Sentinel event
Journal
BMC health services research
ISSN: 1472-6963
Titre abrégé: BMC Health Serv Res
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101088677
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 Feb 2019
01 Feb 2019
Historique:
received:
08
10
2017
accepted:
19
12
2018
entrez:
3
2
2019
pubmed:
3
2
2019
medline:
26
3
2019
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
In advanced health services, a main objective is to promote the culture of safety and clinical risk management. In this regard, the reporting of sentinel events fits within a perspective of error analysis, attempting to propose solutions aimed at preventing a new occurrence of the harmful event. The purpose of this study is to analyze the contribution of medico-legal litigation in the management of clinical risk and to propose an organizational model so as to coordinate the intervention of clinical risk management and medico-legal services. Retrospective review of 206 cases of medico-legal litigation, settled against a Hospital of a North-eastern city in Italy from January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2015. Approximately 20% of cases, that are classifiable as "sentinel events", were not reported due to various factors. The reason that these events are under-reported is mainly due to the latency between the event itself and its manifestation as a serious damage to health as well as the discomfort in reporting the events of this kind, which is still widespread among healthcare workers. The systematic research of the available documentation for medico-legal purposes permits the acquisition of more information concerning the clinical event, thereby increasing the number and accuracy of the reports to the clinical risk unit. The analysis of medico-legal litigation is a valid tool to enhance the reporting of "sentinel events". One possible proposal is the implementation of an organizational model to establish a rapid procedure for the reporting of sentinel events during the evaluation of medico-legal litigations.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
In advanced health services, a main objective is to promote the culture of safety and clinical risk management. In this regard, the reporting of sentinel events fits within a perspective of error analysis, attempting to propose solutions aimed at preventing a new occurrence of the harmful event. The purpose of this study is to analyze the contribution of medico-legal litigation in the management of clinical risk and to propose an organizational model so as to coordinate the intervention of clinical risk management and medico-legal services.
METHODS
METHODS
Retrospective review of 206 cases of medico-legal litigation, settled against a Hospital of a North-eastern city in Italy from January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2015.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Approximately 20% of cases, that are classifiable as "sentinel events", were not reported due to various factors. The reason that these events are under-reported is mainly due to the latency between the event itself and its manifestation as a serious damage to health as well as the discomfort in reporting the events of this kind, which is still widespread among healthcare workers. The systematic research of the available documentation for medico-legal purposes permits the acquisition of more information concerning the clinical event, thereby increasing the number and accuracy of the reports to the clinical risk unit.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
The analysis of medico-legal litigation is a valid tool to enhance the reporting of "sentinel events". One possible proposal is the implementation of an organizational model to establish a rapid procedure for the reporting of sentinel events during the evaluation of medico-legal litigations.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30709359
doi: 10.1186/s12913-018-3846-7
pii: 10.1186/s12913-018-3846-7
pmc: PMC6359867
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
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