Incident notification and patient safety in times of a pandemic

Objective  To review notification of incidents that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods  This is a cross-sectional, exploratory descriptive quantitative study. A total of 1,466 notifications to risk management of a private hospital were analyzed from September 2020 to September 2021. Descriptive statistical analysis was used, applying Pearson’s chi-square test or the likelihood ratio test. The margin of error used was 5%.

Results  Communication failure (358 - 24.5%), probe and catheter use failure (232 - 15.9%) and article and equipment use failure (132 - 9.1%) were identified as prevalent incidents. The notifiable circumstance totaled 55.9% of reports, and, of these, 33.4% were communication failure. Adverse events were 416 (28.6%), and fall was related to mild damage (43.9%), health care-associated infections, to moderate harm (31%), and medication use failure (50%), to severe harm and death.

Conclusion  Communication failure was the most reported risk circumstance, followed by medication use failure as an adverse event with severe harm. The nursing unit showed the possibility of a greater number of adverse events, while in Intensive Care Units, the degree of harm from adverse events was higher.

Patient safety; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Pandemics; Safety management; Risk management; Quality health care; Quality improvement; Notification