Patients’ and Families’ Experiences Regarding Disclosure of Patient Safety Incidents

Abstract

In South Korea, disclosure of patients’ safety incidents is not common in health care settings. Thus, this study identified patients’ and families’ experiences regarding disclosure of patient safety incidents. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews from May 25, 2020, to June 23, 2020, and analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method. The participants consisted of 15 patients and their families who had experienced patient safety incidents in hospitals. It is essential to form a base of mutual understanding to enable disclosure and promote follow-up management systems that can ethically and responsibly handle patient safety incidents. Concrete protocols and policies need to be developed to protect patients and their families from physical/psychological injury and the stress experienced due to patient safety incidents. The patients and their families desired changes to improve protocols for proper disclosure, help health care professionals adopt an ethical and mature attitude, and develop professional health care policies regarding patients’ safety incidents.

Patient, carer and family experiences of seeking redress and reconciliation following a life‐changing event: Systematic review of qualitative evidence

“…Fifty‐three studies (represented by 61 articles) were eligible for inclusion in this review (see Figure 1). 18–78 …”

“…Forty‐one studies (represented by 47 articles) were prioritised for framework synthesis 18–20,22,23,25,27,29–32,34–36,38,39,42–44,47–61,63–65,68–78 . The most common countries where studies were conducted included the United States of America ( n = 12), 27,30,31,38,39,43,51,52,58,59,64,68,71,72 Australia ( n = 8) 19,22,29,34–36,41,54,61,65,69,74 and the United Kingdom ( n = 9) 18,20,25,48,55,57,76–78 .…”

“…The most common countries where studies were conducted included the United States of America ( n = 12), 27,30,31,38,39,43,51,52,58,59,64,68,71,72 Australia ( n = 8) 19,22,29,34–36,41,54,61,65,69,74 and the United Kingdom ( n = 9) 18,20,25,48,55,57,76–78 . Adverse events occurred within following fields: medical ( n = 31), 19,23,31,32,34–36,43,44,47–60,63,65,68–72,74–78 homicide ( n = 3), 27,30,38,39 sexual abuse ( n = 2), 22,29,64 employment/work‐related death ( n = 2), 42,61 death in custody ( n = 1) 25 and suicide ( n = 2) 18,20 . The majority of medical studies focused on the disclosure phase of the justice‐seeking process ( n = 17) 19,32,34–36,43,48,51,53,54,56–58,65,68–72,74,75 …”

“…Adverse events occurred within following fields: medical ( n = 31), 19,23,31,32,34–36,43,44,47–60,63,65,68–72,74–78 homicide ( n = 3), 27,30,38,39 sexual abuse ( n = 2), 22,29,64 employment/work‐related death ( n = 2), 42,61 death in custody ( n = 1) 25 and suicide ( n = 2) 18,20 . The majority of medical studies focused on the disclosure phase of the justice‐seeking process ( n = 17) 19,32,34–36,43,48,51,53,54,56–58,65,68–72,74,75 …”

“…Most studies scored positively on at least 8 of the 14 Wallace checklist items (range 2–13 52 ), 27,29,32,53,70 aside from four studies which scored positively in 2, 5 and 6 out of 14 items, respectively 25,52,55,78 . See Appendix for scores for each prioritised article on individual quality appraisal items.…”