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Patient reporting of undesirable events: a pilot study in China

Objective
To identify the frequency of undesirable events reported by patients during hospitalization and explore the relationship between undesirable events and perception of safety and satisfaction with care in China.


Design
Cross-sectional survey.


Setting
Chinese university hospital.


Participants
Adult patients (N = 341) discharged from medical and surgical departments.


Interventions
Patients were interviewed post-discharge using a survey instrument to ask whether they had experienced specific undesirable events during hospitalization. Patient perception of safety and satisfaction with care received were also probed during this interview.


Main outcome measures
Frequency of interpersonal problems, medical complications and healthcare process problems, and perception of safety and satisfaction with care.


Results
In total, 601 undesirable events were reported (rate of 1.76 per person), including 229 interpersonal problems, 132 medical complications and 240 healthcare process problems. The most frequent event was insufficient explanation of medication side effects (22.9%). Both the perception of safety and satisfaction with care were related to the experience of undesirable events negatively.


Conclusions
Many respondents experienced undesirable events during hospitalization and these experiences impacted negative on patients' feelings toward the hospital. Engaging patients as partners in reporting undesirable events is a valuable tool for identifying and monitoring problematic areas of care. In order to encourage the contribution patients could make to improving patient safety, it is necessary to develop patient incident reporting systems.