The impact of the Coronial Communiqué on changing patient safety: A subscriber survey

Abstract

To determine whether the Coronial Communiqué prompted subscribers to initiate changes to clinical practice for patient safety an anonymous, online cross-sectional population survey questionnaire was provided to all registered subscribers to the Communiqué. The main outcome measure was selfreported review and change to practice. From 1325 subscribers invited to participate, 697 complete and valid responses were received (52.6%). Most of the respondents (588; 84.4%) reported the Communiqué provided ideas for improving patient safety, 429 (61.5%) reviewed their practice, and 290 (41.6%) changed their practice. The characteristic most associated with a change in practice was if the subscriber was in clinical practice. This association was evident for ideas (odds ratio [OR], 3.42; 95% CI, 2.24-5.23), review (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.91-3.61) and change to improve practice (OR, 2.40; 95% CI,1.73-3.32).