Selection of indicators for continuous monitoring of patient safety: recommendations of the project 'safety improvement for patients in Europe'.

BACKGROUND: Initiatives to improve patient safety have high priority among health professionals and politicians in most developed countries. Currently, however, assessment of patient safety problems relies mainly on case-based methodologies. The evidence for their efficiency and reproducibility, proving that safety of care has improved with their usage, is questionable. The exact incidence and prevalence of patient safety quality problems are unknown. Therefore, there is a need for firm, evidence-based methods to survey and develop patient safety and derived activities.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to describe a method to select patient safety indicators and present the indicators derived through this process.
METHODS: The patient safety indicators were derived and recommended for use in a formalized consensus process based on literature review, targeted information gathering, expert consultation and rating procedures.
RESULTS: A total of 42 indicators, of which 28 originated from existing international indicator programmes, were selected. The processes and outcome indicators that were recommended for institutional-level use in Europe were 24, covering safety of care aspects such as culture, infections, surgical complications, medication errors, obstetrics, falls and specific diagnostic areas.
CONCLUSION: The patient safety indicators recommended present a set of possible measures of patient safety. One of the future perspectives of implementing patient safety indicators for systematic monitoring is that it will be possible to continuously estimate the prevalence and incidence of patient safety quality problems. The lesson learnt from quality improvement is that it will pay off in terms of improving patient safety.