To err is system; a comparison of methodologies for the investigation of adverse outcomes in healthcare (27 March 2021)

Summary

Patient safety, staff moral and system performance are at the heart of healthcare delivery. Investigation of adverse outcomes is one strategy that enables organisations to learn and improve.

Healthcare is now understood as a complex, possibly the most complex, socio-technological system. Despite this the use of a 20th century linear investigation model is still recommended for the investigation of adverse outcomes. In this review, Isherwood and Waterson use data gathered from the investigation of a real life healthcare near incident and apply three different methodologies to the analysis of this data. They compare both the methodologies themselves and the outputs generated. This illustrates how different methodologies generate different system level recommendations. The authors conclude that system based models generate the strongest barriers to improve future performance. Healthcare providers and their regulatory bodies need to embrace system based methodologies if they are to effectively learn from, and reduce future, adverse outcomes.