PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Di Lamb
AU  - N Piper
TI  - Automating patient safety incident reporting to improve healthcare quality in the defence medical services
AID  - 10.1136/jramc-2015-000543
DP  - 2015 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
PG  - i39--i45
VI  - 161
IP  - Suppl 1
4099  - http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/161/Suppl_1/i39.short
4100  - http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/161/Suppl_1/i39.full
SO  - J R Army Med Corps2015 Dec 01; 161
AB  - There are many reasons for poor compliance with patient safety incident reporting in the UK. The Defence Medical Services has made a significant investment to address the culture and process by which risk to patient safety is managed within its organisation. This paper describes the decision process and technical considerations in the design of an automated reporting system together with the implementation procedure aimed to maximise compliance. The elimination of inherent weaknesses in feedback mechanisms from the three Armed Forces, which had been uniquely different, ensured the quality of data improved, which enabled resources to be prioritised that would also have a direct impact upon the quality of patient care.