Investigation and multivariate statistical analysis of the factors influencing risk management

Abstract

A questionnaire survey for medical practitioners was conducted to clarify their basic awareness and concepts of risk management. One hundred and sixty-three medical practitioners participated in the fourth. Chugoku Yakugaku Kenkyukai. More than 50% of the participants (n = 83, aged 39.7 ± 10.8 years) answered correctly questions about the awareness of risk management and the existence of a risk management committee in their medical institution. All of those survey participants had experienced common risk managements incidents (approximately 12 times/year) during working hours. When multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the survey results, the factors influencing the presence of a risk management committee in a medical institution were a system for the submission of incident reports, the number of beds, and the presence of a person assigned to manage risk. The analysis showed that in a number of cases medical institutions did not have a system for incident reports and did not appoint risk management staff. Moreover, the analysis showed that factors influencing the presence of a risk management committee were staff age, experience in submitting incident reports, and participation of the top executive in the operation of the risk management committee. Participants younger than 40 years of age were dissatisfied with the reporting system of risk management committees those older. The younger group usually reported incidents to those older than 40 years of age, who only accepted the reports and did not submit them to the risk management committee. In conclusion, our results suggest that in a risk management program it is important to establish a committee and a system for the submission of incident reports. Incident reports should not only include expressions of regret for medication errors but also propose a plan for improvement. © 2002 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.