No-fault compensation for treatment injury in New Zealand: identifying threats to patient safety in primary care

Abstract

New Zealand's no-fault treatment injury claims database provides information about primary care patient safety events from an unusual 'no-fault' perspective. This analysis reinforces previous research identifying medication as a high-risk primary care activity and further identifies other primary care activities (dental care, injections, venepuncture, cryotherapy and ear syringing) as carrying important risks for patient harm.

Patient safety in primary health care: a systematic review

“…There was a balance in the yearly distribution of the articles' publication: four in 2007 9,10,11,12 , six in 2008 13,14,15,16,17,18 , three in 2009 19,20,21 , ten in 2010 22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31 , six in 2011 32,33,34,35,36,37 and four in 2012 38,39,40,41 (Table 2).…”

“…Some studies used administrative data from incident reporting systems fed by health professionals 9,13,14,15,18,19,37,38 or by health professionals and patients and family members 32 . Data were also obtained from focus groups with physicians and other health professionals 23 , or with health professionals and patients and family members 20 .…”

“…Six studies 12,17,21,30,31,41 used a combination of data sources. Reporting system were the most frequent data source: 15 studies (45%) 9,11,12,13,14,15,18,19,21,30,32,35,37,38,41 . The definition of adverse events differed, while the great majority of studies did not present a definition for these events.…”

“…The study population consisted of physicians and other health professionals 9,10,13,14,15,16,19,20,22,24,25,28,30,32,33,34,35,36,39,40 , patients and families 26 , and health professionals and patients and families 11,21,23,27,29,31,41 , while in some studies the study population was not described in complete detail 17,22,38 (Table 2).…”

“…Eight studies 13,14,15,17,21,27,32,34 aimed to identify the types and severity of incidents in primary care and their contributing factors; 19 studies 9,11,16,18,19,20,22,23,24,25,26,29,30,33,35,37,39,40 aimed to indicate solutions to make primary care safer for the patient; and six studies 12,28,31,36,38,41 aimed to evaluate the tools for improving patient safety in primary care.…”