Question

CASE STUDIES IN HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 4-50 Analyzing Incident Reporting Form Design several cases where the hospital had to settle out of court because critical information had not been captured at the time of the incident. By the time some of the cases were filed, information that had not been documented was lost because the people involved could not clearly remember what happened a the time of the incident Critique the form in Fi7om both a forms design and the incident-repn standpoint

Answer 1

An incident report form is a form which is filled when there is an occurrence of incident that is related to any discrepancy of patient care whether it is done intentionally or unintentionally. It is a legal document , but not a part of patient record.

As a analyser , first of all I will check the contents which are included in the form . Secondly ,period of time during which it is filled . Third , the maintainance of incident reports .

1. Contents are the parts which are needed to be filled during an incident . Brief description of the incidenct we can say . Check the incident sheet for :-

- description of incident

- date and time of incident

- name of the patient and UHID number

- name of the staff and ID number

- signature of staff

- name and ID of witness

- counter sign of sister in charge

- sign of consultant

- date and time of filling the incident form

Check for any over writtings, cuttings, use of whitener ,change in handwriting in the documentation as it is a legal document

2. Analyse the time period between the incident and reporting of incident - Thorough assessment of the time period between incident and reporting of incident is done because an incident report has to be mentioned within 24hrs and also memories fade way quickly after an event occurs and critical component's may be forgotten.

3. Maintaining the incident report - after the incident report is filled ,check whether the patient is not having a incident report form because incident report is not a part of patient medical record , and does the incident report is filled in the system or not. A copy of incident report is send to the chief in charge for further evaluation is it done or not .

All these assessments are necessary because in future if patient or patients attendent files a case in the court then this form is a legal proof for the hospital to claim .