Problem: When patient safety programs were mandated for Japanese health care institutions, a safety culture, a tool for collecting incident reports, an organizational arrangement for multidisciplinary collaboration, and interventional methods for improvement had to be established. Design: Observational study of effects of new patient safety programs. Setting: Osaka University Hospital, a large government-run teaching hospital. Strategy for change: A voluntary and anonymous web-based incident reporting system was introduced. For the new organizational structure a clinical risk management committee, a department of clinical quality management, and area clinical risk managers were established with their respective roles clearly defined to advance the plan-do-study-act cycle and to integrate efforts. For preventive action, alert procedures, staff education, ward rounds by peers, a system oriented approach for reducing errors, and various feedback channels were introduced.

IntroductionResilient healthcare (RHC) is an emerging area of theory and applied research to understand how healthcare organisations cope with the dynamic, variable and demanding environments in which they operate, based on insights from complexity and systems theory. Understanding adaptive capacity has been a focus of RHC studies. Previous studies clearly show why adaptations are necessary and document the successful adaptive actions taken by clinicians. To our knowledge, however, no studies have thus far compared RHC across different teams and countries. There are gaps in the research knowledge related to the multilevel nature of resilience across healthcare systems and the team-based nature of adaptive capacity.This cross-country comparative study therefore aims to add knowledge of how resilience is enabled in diverse healthcare systems by examining adaptive capacity in hospital teams in six countries. The study will identify how team, organisational and national healthcare system factors support or hinder the ability of teams to adapt to variability and change. Findings from this study are anticipated to provide insights to inform the design of RHC systems by considering how macro-level and meso-level structures support adaptive capacity at the micro-level, and to develop guidance for organisations and policymakers.Methods and analysisThe study will employ a multiple comparative case study design of teams nested within hospitals, in turn embedded within six countries: Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. The design will be based on the Adaptive Teams Framework placing adaptive teams at the centre of the healthcare system with layers of environmental, organisational and system level factors shaping adaptive capacity. In each of the six countries, a focused mapping of the macro-level features of the healthcare system will be undertaken by using documentary sources and interviews with key informants operating at the macro-level.A sampling framework will be developed to select two hospitals in each country to ensure variability based on size, location and teaching status. Four teams will be selected in each hospital—one each of a structural, hybrid, responsive and coordinating team. A total of eight teams will be studied in each country, creating a total sample of 48 teams. Data collection methods will be observations, interviews and document analysis. Within-case analysis will be conducted according to a standardised template using a combination of deductive and inductive qualitative coding, and cross-case analysis will be conducted drawing on the Qualitative Comparative Analysis framework.Ethics and disseminationThe overall Resilience in Healthcare research programme of which this study is a part has been granted ethical approval by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (Ref. No. 8643334 and Ref. No. 478838). Ethical approval will also be sought in each country involved in the study according to their respective regulatory procedures. Country-specific reports of study outcomes will be produced for dissemination online. A collection of case study summaries will be made freely available, translated into multiple languages. Brief policy communications will be produced to inform policymakers and regulators about the study results and to facilitate translation into practice. Academic dissemination will occur through publication in journals specialising in health services research. Findings will be presented at academic, policy and practitioner conferences, including the annual RHC Network meeting and other healthcare quality and safety conferences. Presentations at practitioner and academic conferences will include workshops to translate the findings into practice and influence quality and safety programmes internationally.

Abstract:We assessed the association of white blood cell (WBC) count with different components of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in 5275 Japanese male office workers aged 23-59 years. There was a significantly crude correlation between WBC count and body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (negative), triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and uric acid (all P<0.001). After controlling for potential confounding factors, the adjusted means of WBC count were significantly higher in subjects with each feature of the MS (obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, hypertriglyceridemia, high fasting plasma glucose levels, and hyperuricemia) (all P<0.005). The adjusted WBC count increments in subjects with 1, 2, 3, 4, and ≥ 5 features of the MS were 0.28, 0.45, 0.68, 0.76, and 1.40 × × × × × 10 9 cells/l, respectively, compared with the subjects without features of the MS (P for trend<0.001). The adjusted means of WBC count increased significantly with the increasing number of features of the MS in both non-smokers and smokers (both P<0.001). These data indicate a strong association between WBC count and a number of disorders characterizing the MS independent of cigarette smoking among Japanese men.

Medical malpractice claims and dispute resolution systems have been examined in Western societies for their impact on the quality of care and efficient compensation for injured patients. However, little is known about the Japanese malpractice environment because claim information has been closely guarded. Based on data from the Japanese Supreme Court, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (formerly the Ministry of Health and Welfare), and the Japan Medical Association (JMA), which provides malpractice insurance to 43.5% of Japan's 250 000 physicians, we review Japanese malpractice liability systems and the frequency of claims during the last 30 years. Annual premiums for physician professional liability insurance are relatively low (454 dollars-491 dollars). Although the frequency of claims in Japan is lower than that reported in the United States, England, and Germany, the number of claims is increasing in Japan. According to publicly available data from the Japanese Supreme Court, the annual number of medical malpractice suits filed in district courts has increased from 102 in 1970 to 629 in 1998 (from 0.09 to 0.25 per 100 physicians). The proportion of awards greater than 89 dollars 300 increased from 13.6% in 1976 to 65.4% in 1987. Among JMA members, claims increased 31% from 1987 to 1999, but the frequency of claims has remained at approximately 0.3 per 100 JMA members. The JMA's professional liability program offers a nonbinding out-of-court review of claims that is faster and less expensive than judicial resolution (a few months with no attorney required vs 35 months and attorney fees), but is a poor means of deterrence or discipline. Since JMA data represent only 43.5% of Japanese physicians, generalizations cannot be made about all Japanese physicians and institutions. The lack of data on all claims hinders adequate evaluation of dispute resolution methods, development of appropriate risk management activities, and proactive education for Japanese physicians.

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