Contrast formal and informal methods for reporting adverse events in a health care organization

Reporting adverse events in a health care organization

Contrast formal and informal methods for reporting adverse events in a health care organization.

An adverse event is a problem caused by medical care – it can happen during therapy or cause by a drug that can harm a patient. These events can be mild, severe, preventable, or unpreventable. They are caused mainly by a lack of teamwork, poor communication, and incompetence. The most common way of communicating such events is formal and informal reporting (Syed, 2021).

Formal reporting mainly uses a prescribed format and is typically highly structured. These methods follow policies and procedures, including occurrence screening, reporting, and incident reports. The main objective of a formal report is to provide practical and effective recommendations that help in decision-making. Therefore, most organizations use this information to prevent losses and manage risks. Formal communication is circulated chiefly among top-level executives, risk management teams, external parties, and necessary groups. After the information is received, it is decoded, studied, then interpreted for circulation to other involved healthcare workers (Carroll, 2009).

 Informal methods of reporting deal with less complex and frequent problems and are used more frequently than formal reports. They are less structured and rarely use prescribed formats; however, they provide variable information on loss prevention and risk management. Informal reporting methods mainly convey routine messages, and they rarely contain recommendations. They are also primarily used within the organization. They typically include patient complaints and findings from their satisfaction surveys, committee minutes, survey reports and conclusions, and data on claims.           

References

Carroll, R. (2009). Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Organizations. The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Syed, J. (2021, March 26). What are ‘adverse events’ and why is it necessary to record and report them? Students 4 Best Evidence Tutorials and Fundamentals. Students 4 Best Evidence. https://s4be.cochrane.org/blog/2021/03/26/what-are-adverse-events-and-why-is-it-necessary-to-record-and-report-them/?preview_id=16365