OBJECTIVE: To assess the reporting of critical incidents by anaesthetic trainees using personal digital assistants. The project also identified the reporting of 'near miss' incidents by anaesthetic trainees. DESIGN: Comparison of electronic incident reporting with retrospective case note review of cases in which no incident was reported. SETTING: A 400-bed university teaching hospital in Victoria. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen accredited Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) registrars and their training supervisors. INTERVENTIONS: Registrars and supervisors underwent initial training for 1 hour and were provided with ongoing support. The cases and incidents reported to the database using the portable digital assistants were analysed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: These were the total number of anaesthetics reported to the database; the number of incidents reported to the database; the outcome severity of incidents reported; and the number of incidents detected in the case note review that were not reported to the database. RESULTS: An incident was reported for 156 (3.5%) of 4441 anaesthetic procedures reported to the database. Of these incidents, 72 (46.2%) were 'near misses'. One incident was identified in a review of 208 case notes, which had no incidents reported electronically, and was not reported to the database electronically. This gives a reporting rate of 99.52% [95% confidence interval (CI) 96.9-100%]. CONCLUSIONS: ANZCA trainees in routine anaesthetic practice can reliably use mobile computing technology to report critical incidents and 'near miss' incident data.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the reporting of critical incidents by anaesthetic trainees using personal digital assistants. The project also identified the reporting of 'near miss' incidents by anaesthetic trainees. DESIGN: Comparison of electronic incident reporting with retrospective case note review of cases in which no incident was reported. SETTING: A 400-bed university teaching hospital in Victoria. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen accredited Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) registrars and their training supervisors. INTERVENTIONS: Registrars and supervisors underwent initial training for 1 hour and were provided with ongoing support. The cases and incidents reported to the database using the portable digital assistants were analysed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: These were the total number of anaesthetics reported to the database; the number of incidents reported to the database; the outcome severity of incidents reported; and the number of incidents detected in the case note review that were not reported to the database. RESULTS: An incident was reported for 156 (3.5%) of 4441 anaesthetic procedures reported to the database. Of these incidents, 72 (46.2%) were 'near misses'. One incident was identified in a review of 208 case notes, which had no incidents reported electronically, and was not reported to the database electronically. This gives a reporting rate of 99.52% [95% confidence interval (CI) 96.9-100%]. CONCLUSIONS: ANZCA trainees in routine anaesthetic practice can reliably use mobile computing technology to report critical incidents and 'near miss' incident data.
Authors: Karin E Munting; Bas van Zaane; Antonius N J Schouten; Leo van Wolfswinkel; Jurgen C de Graaff Journal: Can J Anaesth Date: 2015-09-25 Impact factor: 5.063