Four steps to reduce medical incidents

Abstract

Purpose

In order to improve working methods, this study proposes a method for the analysis of medication incidents and the systematic planning of error‐proofing (EP) countermeasures, in the hope that it might contribute to a reduction in medication incidents.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to simplify the process of planning EP countermeasures, the following approaches are employed in this study. Improvement elements are extracted in order to plan EP countermeasures. The improvement elements that caused the error‐factor are called improvement objects, and the authors designed the extraction set of improvement objects. The authors correlated the improvement objects with recommended EP solutions. Finally, these parameters are collated. Moreover, these tools are summarized as a procedure for analysis of such incidents and for the creation of appropriate EP countermeasures.

Findings

Using this approach, this paper suggests four steps to reduce medical incidents. The proposed procedure can facilitate the planning of EP countermeasures and can reduce the rate of medical incidents.

Research limitations/implications

It can be surmised that the proposed method can serve as a useful means for planning EP countermeasures and reducing the number of medication incidents. On the other hand, there are various countermeasures which can be planned for one incident by applying the proposed method.

Originality/value

The relationship between Error factors and improvement objects were then clarified through utilizing maps. Furthermore, a list that clearly indicates which EP solutions should be adopted for the improvement objects were suggested. There is, therefore, a significant difference between the proposed and the conventional method, and this makes it possible to plan the EP countermeasures easily.

Citation

Jin, H., Munechika, M., Sano, M. and Kajihara, C. (2012), "Four steps to reduce medical incidents", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 399-407. https://doi.org/10.1108/17566691211288377