This case study highlights how a prominent private hospital, managed by our UK/Ireland team, tackled challenges with its outdated incident reporting system. The hospital streamlined its process by implementing MEG's Incident Reporting Module, achieving significant improvements and seamless integration.

The narrative discusses the drawbacks of the old hybrid system, the hospital's ambitions to enhance reporting, and the customised solution offered by MEG. The outcomes speak for themselves: improved incident reporting, heightened staff engagement, and a reinforced culture of safety. This change underscores the strategic benefits of transitioning to a digital reporting system.

The CHALLENGE

Before approaching MEG, the hospital used a hybrid incident reporting system comprising paper and digital elements. When an incident occurred, frontline staff would manually fill out paper incident reporting forms. These forms were then forwarded to the Quality Department, which would undertake the cumbersome process of scanning and uploading them onto incident reporting software for documentation.

Predictably, this approach was time-consuming, labour-intensive, and inefficient. The inherent delays created a time gap between the occurrence of an incident and its formal documentation, hindering timely incident reporting and potentially compromising patient safety.

Another significant challenge was the under-reporting of incidents, particularly in critical areas like medication errors. Often, responsibility for filling out incident forms rested on the manager rather than the staff member directly involved in the incident.

the Goal

Recognising the shortcomings of the existing system, the hospital wanted a digital solution that would streamline the incident reporting process, facilitate real-time reporting across various incident categories, and encourage staff engagement.

The overarching goal was to transform the culture surrounding incident reporting, positioning it as a positive undertaking and a valuable learning opportunity for improving patient safety. They wanted staff to embrace a mindset where reporting was seen as a constructive means to identify areas for improvement, free from the fear of blame.

THE Solution

MEG upgraded the hospital's existing incident reporting system to a comprehensive digital platform, accessible on desktop and mobile devices for convenient use. When connected to the hospital's network, staff can securely access the tool through the single sign-on method.

The software features incident reporting forms across 19 incident types/categories, such as falls, pressure ulcers, medication errors, etc. Each form is tailored with a set of category-specific questions, complemented by default questions that remain consistent across all categories.

When an incident occurs, staff can fill out the related reporting form on any device(desktop and mobile, attach documents, test results, signatures, and supporting evidence as required, and submit it — all within a few minutes. The incident is automatically assigned to the management responsible for the location/department where it occurred. Simultaneously, the Quality Department is notified of all incidents, ensuring transparency and visibility.

Department managers use the Incident Reporting platform and the Quality Improvement Tool (QIP) to conduct investigations. They can update the status of the incident, add notes, assign and track follow-up actions for staff, and close the incident upon resolution. Automated notifications are also sent to subject experts (a.k.a secondary owners) based on the type of incident. For example, a pressure injury triggers a notification to a Tissue Viability Nurse (TVN).

A centralised reporting dashboard provides Department Managers and Quality Leaders access to incident activity across the hospital. The dashboard features distinct tabs for each incident type/category, with the ability to filter incidents based on parameters such as status, overseeing manager, location, category, type, and subtype. They can also view incidents assigned to themselves using the "my incidents" filter.

The dashboard also provides graphical representations of valuable data, such as the number of reported incidents within a specific timeframe, incidents by category, status, location, and incident category versus type. Each category tab features a unique set of tailored graphs, encompassing metrics like incident count, staging, location of occurrence, contributing factors, and more. All reports and graphical data can be effortlessly exported into Excel or PowerPoint for sharing with higher management.

The Implementation

The successful execution of the above-described solution was made possible through a synergistic collaboration between the hospital and MEG.

The key objective was to ensure that the new system seamlessly captured all relevant data previously collected through paper forms. Leveraging the support of the hospital's IT Projects team, our implementation team delved into the intricacies of department-specific incident reporting. This collaborative approach of actively seeking input and feedback from all the stakeholders allowed us to customise the Incident Reporting software to their unique requirements, such as creating different incident categories and subcategories.

MEG then built a trial version of the customised solution (outlined in the previous section), making changes along the way based on feedback, and the hospital conducted comprehensive testing to assess its effectiveness in day-to-day, real-time incident reporting. The testing module doubled as an invaluable resource for staff training, allowing them to familiarise themselves with the tool and its functionalities through interactive drop-in sessions. This proactive training approach played a pivotal role in guaranteeing a seamless transition to the new system after its official launch by instilling a sense of confidence among staff members.

Throughout the implementation process, the hospital's IT Projects and steering teams kept stakeholders and frontline staff well-informed about the project's progress with weekly and monthly updates. As the go-live date approached, consistent communication was maintained through frequent emails, printed posters, and leaflets distributed across the hospital.

In addition, they held educational drop-in sessions to facilitate training and adoption. The team also prepared cheat sheets and information guides to assist staff in logging in, locating different categories, and filling out forms using the new system.

The Result

Some of the key outcomes and benefits of the implementation of MEG's Incident Reporting software within the hospital include:

• Superior data capture: Having access to a set of customised Incident Reporting forms enabled staff to effortlessly capture incident data with a high level of granularity across categories. This resulted in a marked improvement in the quality of captured data, specific to each incident type, surpassing the capabilities of the previous system.

• Real-time reporting: The intuitive and user-friendly interface of the MEG Incident Reporting tool empowered staff to complete incident forms in real-time — within minutes of the incident occurring. This is a stark contrast to the previous system, where it would take them several days to fill out the incident report on paper and a few more days to upload it onto the digital system.

• Increased reporting rates: Prior to implementing MEG, there was initial apprehension that frontline staff might perceive the new system as a barrier to reporting, potentially leading to a decline in reported incidents. Contrary to this concern, the ease of use of the new reporting software resulted in the opposite effect. Particularly for certain incident types, such as medication errors, the hospital collected more data than ever before.

• Improved data analysis: The real-time dashboards have brought incident data directly to the wards so managers can view and track incidents, add comments, assign tasks, evaluate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and improve their processes based on the insights provided. The dashboards also serve as a valuable tool for providing visibility and feedback to wards, departments, and upper management.

• Cultural transformation: The introduction of MEG's Incident Reporting software within the hospital has led to a positive shift in how staff perceive the reporting of incidents. It is now being viewed as a valuable learning tool, providing key insights rather than a cumbersome process that must be undertaken when issues arise — which was one of the key objectives for this project.

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