What is the effectiveness of reporting systems in promoting learning in healthcare?

Abstract

Patient safety in healthcare remains a top priority. Learning from safety events is vital to move towards safer systems. As a result, reporting systems are recognised as the cornerstone of safety, especially in high-risk industries. However, in healthcare, the benefits of reporting systems in promoting learning remain contentious. Though the strengths of these systems, such as promoting a safety culture and providing information from near misses are noted, there are problems that mean learning is missed. Understanding the factors that both enable and act as barriers to learning from reporting is also important to consider. This review, considers the effectiveness of reporting systems in contributing to learning in healthcare.