Building the Foundation: Why an Incident Register is the First Step to Better Healthcare Management

In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, ensuring patient safety and delivering quality care requires efficient and reliable systems. One of the most fundamental tools for achieving this is an incident register. By capturing incidents in real-time, healthcare organisations can not only ensure accurate and timely data but also lay the groundwork for robust risk management workflows. This blog explores the critical role an incident register plays in transforming healthcare management, offering practical examples and insights.

The Importance of Capturing Incidents in Real-Time

Timely incident reporting is crucial in healthcare. Delays in reporting can lead to incomplete data, misinterpretation of events, and missed opportunities to prevent future issues. A real-time incident register ensures:

1. Data Accuracy: When incidents are logged immediately, details are fresh and accurate, minimising the risk of errors or missing information.

2. Timeliness: Quick reporting allows for faster responses, reducing the likelihood of escalation and improving patient outcomes.

3. Transparency: Real-time updates foster a culture of accountability and transparency across teams.

For example, a nurse who identifies a medication error and logs it into the system immediately enables management to act swiftly, mitigating potential harm to the patient and initiating corrective measures.

An Incident Register: The Cornerstone for Risk Management

An incident register is more than just a log of events; it is the foundation for actionable risk management workflows. Here’s how it supports healthcare organisations:

1. Centralised Data: By consolidating all incidents in one place, organisations gain a holistic view of risks, trends, and patterns.

2. Workflow Integration: Incident registers feed into broader risk management systems, enabling seamless tracking, investigation, and resolution of issues.

3. Proactive Prevention: With clear insights into recurring problems, healthcare teams can implement measures to prevent future incidents.

Consider a hospital where falls among elderly patients are consistently recorded in the incident register. The data enables leadership to identify patterns, adjust protocols, and implement preventive measures such as improved staff training and patient monitoring systems.

Real-World Impact: Proactive Incident Management

Registering incidents proactively can dramatically improve patient safety and organisational efficiency. Here are two examples:

• Reducing Repeat Issues: A clinic identifies a recurring issue with surgical instrument sterilization after reviewing its incident register. By addressing the root cause, they eliminate future risks and enhance patient safety.

• Improving Patient Outcomes: A hospital’s real-time reporting system highlights medication administration errors. Immediate corrective actions and staff training reduce such errors by 30% within three months.

These examples underscore the value of an incident register as a transformative tool for healthcare management.

Conclusion

An incident register is not just a system; it’s the foundation for a safer, more efficient healthcare environment. By capturing incidents in real-time, healthcare organisations can ensure data accuracy, streamline risk management workflows, and proactively prevent recurring issues. Building this foundation is the first step toward better healthcare management and improved patient outcomes.

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Explore how MEG’s Incident Management Software can streamline your reporting process and lay the foundation for effective risk management.

A New Approach to Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance at the Navarra Clinic with MEG

At the Navarra Clinic, patient safety is a top priority. Like many healthcare facilities, hand hygiene is essential to reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)—a persistent challenge in the sector. In 2024, at the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Clinical Medicine, Blanca Rodríguez shared how the clinic began implementing MEG, a tool that is helping them measure hand hygiene adherence more effectively, a critical factor in infection prevention.

Why is Hand Hygiene So Important?

HAIs are a serious issue in any healthcare system, and in Spain, they are estimated to cause around 6,000 deaths annually. They also represent a significant cost, nearing 2 billion euros. However, according to a systematic review by Mouajou et al. (2022), suggests that up to half of these infections could be prevented with proper hand hygiene, especially during five critical moments:

1. Before touching the patient.

2. Before performing aseptic procedures.

3. After exposure to bodily fluids.

4. After touching the patient.

5. After contact with the patient’s surroundings.

5 moments for hand hygiene - WHO

Implementing MEG: A Support in Data Collection

Hand hygiene monitoring at the Navarra Clinic combines direct observation with the MEG tool, providing a comprehensive approach to data collection. With MEG, the clinic can effectively track all five hand hygiene moments and record additional details, such as the type of hygiene performed (alcohol-based solution, soap and water, or none) and the duration of handwashing, ensuring it meets the recommended time.

Transforming the Process with MEG

Before MEG: Hand hygiene monitoring was based on manual observation, which, while useful, offered limited insights due to smaller sample sizes.

After MEG: With MEG, the clinic has completely transformed its monitoring process. They can now track all five key hand hygiene moments and collect detailed data, including the type of hygiene performed (alcohol-based solution, soap and water, or none) and the duration of handwashing (more or less than 20 seconds).

Since implementing MEG, the clinic has seen a remarkable increase in the number of observations. This significant growth in both the quantity and quality of data has provided a clearer understanding of average adherence. It has also enabled the clinic to tailor hygiene protocols to address specific needs more effectively.

As a result, the clinic now benefits from a more accurate and actionable view of hand hygiene adherence, driving meaningful improvements in their practices.

Hand Hygiene Audit Form (example only)

“It has been a pleasure to share the impact that using MEG has had in improving hand hygiene adherence at CUN. You can’t improve what you don’t know, and you can’t know what you don’t measure. Tools like MEG are essential for preventive medicine.”

-Blanca Rodriguez, Nurse in Preventive Medicine at Clinica Universitaria de Navarra

Enhanced Insights

Since adopting MEG, the clinic has seen a remarkable increase in the volume and quality of observations. This larger dataset has provided a clearer understanding of adherence rates and allowed the clinic to customise hygiene protocols to address specific areas for improvement. By minimising biases and collecting more statistically reliable data, the clinic now has actionable insights to enhance patient safety.

Advantages of using an electronic tool

Using an electronic tool for hand hygiene (HH) offers several advantages. It provides immediate reports sent directly to your email, ensuring quick access to up-to-date data. The tool allows for customised reports by date, area, profession, and hygiene moment, making it easier to track and analyse HH practices. It helps identify failures and target areas for improvement. Additionally, observations aren't limited to just IPC nurses, broadening the scope of data collection. Reports are easily accessible on the intranet, and monthly reports are shared in common areas to provide valuable feedback to staff.

1. Instant Reporting: Access up-to-date data immediately via email.

2. Custom Reports: Filter information by date, area, profession, or specific moments. Identify improvement opportunities and implement targeted corrective measures

3. Use of quality management system: Implementation of a set of standardised processes, policies, and tools designed to ensure that the hospital consistently meets regulatory requirements. Helps improve efficiency, manage risks, monitor performance, and drive continuous improvement across all operations.

4. Enhances Hand Hygiene Compliance: Ensures that healthcare staff consistently follow hand hygiene protocols by providing real-time monitoring, automated reminders, and data-driven insights to improve adherence to infection control standards.

5. Intranet Access: Reports are accessible to all relevant staff members.

6. Team Feedback: Monthly summaries are shared in common areas to engage staff and promote transparency. Observations can be done by trained professionals, not just IPC nurses.

Key Takeaways

• Hand hygiene is essential to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

• Regular auditing is crucial for patient safety and effective improvement measures.

• Benefits of electronic tools:

• Enhance data collection.

• Provide immediate feedback.

• Save time for IPC teams.

• Empower more professionals to collect data.

• Offer a clearer picture of real adherence rates.

Efficient tools lead to actionable insights, fostering a culture of safety and improvement in healthcare.

Looking Ahead

While there’s still room for progress, the integration of MEG at the Navarra Clinic has already provided valuable insights to refine their hand hygiene practices. With more detailed data, the team can continue adapting protocols and training programs to meet their safety goals.

Blanca Rodríguez, Nurse in Preventive Medicine at Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, mentioned in her presentation that:

“Implementing an electronic tool like MEG can be a great alternative for those seeking a more realistic and accurate approach to infection prevention.”

Transform Your Hand Hygiene Audits with MEG

MEG's Hand hygiene audit tool has empowered different clients to efficiently gather and analyse audit data directly on any device. This streamlined process has significantly reduced the time spent on manual tasks, allowing the team to focus more on enhancing audit quality and driving impactful improvements.

👉 Contact us today to learn more!

Digitalisation and Patient Safety: A New Era

In healthcare, patient safety is a fundamental priority, and digitalisation is creating a turning point in how it is managed. Today, three key tools stand out as pillars in the identification and mitigation of adverse events: voluntary reporting, risk registers, and Global Trigger Tools (GTT).

In this blog, we explore the specificity and sensitivity of each tool, the transformative role of GTT, and how digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionising their use.

How This Benefits Hospitals and Healthcare Workers?

Implementing digital tools like Global Trigger Tools (GTT) enhanced with AI doesn’t just improve patient safety; it directly supports healthcare workers and streamlines hospital operations. These advancements empower frontline staff by reducing the administrative burden of manual reporting, allowing them to focus on what matters most: patient care. AI-powered systems detect risks in real-time, minimising human error and creating actionable insights that help healthcare teams address issues proactively.

For hospitals, this means a more resilient patient safety culture, faster responses to emerging risks, and enhanced compliance with international standards. The result? Safer environments for patients, more efficient workflows for staff, and an overall improvement in healthcare quality and outcomes. By embracing digitalisation, hospitals and healthcare workers can confidently move toward a future of smarter, safer care.

The Triad in Action: Voluntary Reporting, Risk Register, and GTT

Voluntary Reporting: A Frontline Perspective

• Specificity: Highly specific since reported events often have a direct impact on care.

• Sensitivity: Limited, as it relies on staff willingness to report, leaving some incidents undetected.

Risk Register: Mapping Potential Hazards

• Specificity: Moderate, focusing on risks identified during audits and analyses.

• Sensitivity: High for structural or systemic issues but may be less reactive to isolated events.

Global Trigger Tools: Detecting the Invisible

• Specificity and Sensitivity: Combines the best of both worlds by identifying specific "triggers" that alert to potential adverse events, even those not voluntarily reported.

Why Are GTT the Future?

GTT doesn’t rely on human memory or perception but on objective, data-driven analyses. It detects patterns, identifies areas for improvement, and provides insights that other tools might overlook.

The Technological Revolution: Digitalisation and AI Automation

Digitalising forms and incorporating AI are taking GTT to the next level:

• Smart Digital Forms: Capture data more precisely and consistently, reducing human error.

• AI in GTT: Processes large volumes of data in real-time, detecting triggers faster and more accurately. This not only accelerates the detection of adverse events but also optimises the organisational learning process.

Key Benefits:

• Earlier risk detection.

• Increased sensitivity and specificity in identifying events.

• Faster and more effective corrective actions.

Conclusion

Digitalisation is not only modernising adverse event management but also transforming how we understand and prevent risks in healthcare. Adopting tools like GTT and enhancing them with AI is a crucial step toward safer and more efficient care.

Discover how this technology improves adverse event management.

Honduras Medical Center Teams Up with MEG to Streamline Healthcare Quality Managemen

We’re thrilled to welcome Honduras Medical Center to the MEG family!

Recognizing the Need for Improvement

Located in the vibrant city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras Medical Center has been a beacon of healthcare excellence since 2003. With a dedicated team of 154 in-house specialists and 293 accredited external physicians, the hospital provides a wide array of services, including emergency care, maternity services, outpatient surgery, and intensive care. Its unwavering commitment to patient care has earned it a well-deserved reputation as one of the leading healthcare institutions in Honduras and Central America.

Addressing the Need for Change

As with many healthcare facilities, Honduras Medical Center faced challenges with outdated manual quality management processes. The inefficiencies of handling data collection, monitoring, and analysis manually were eating up valuable time and resources. Recognizing the need for a modern solution, the hospital set out to find a system that could:

• Streamline routine tasks and optimize resource use

• Be simple, intuitive, and adaptable to their specific needs

• Integrate seamlessly with their existing systems, backed by strong technical support

Why They Chose MEG

It was during the Patient Safety and Quality Congress that MEG’s LATAM Business Development Manager, Mauricio Petri, introduced the hospital to MEG’s powerful suite of tools. After a thorough evaluation, the hospital chose MEG for its:

• Easy-to-use, intuitive interface

• Customization to fit the hospital’s unique workflows

• Automation to handle repetitive tasks with ease

• Dedicated support team to ensure success at every step

The MEG Modules That Made It Happen

The hospital’s digital transformation took off with the implementation of three key MEG modules:

• Audit & Inspection Software

• Incident Reporting Software

• Document Management software

What’s Changed So Far?

The results so far have been impressive. By streamlining their processes, these tools have already boosted operational efficiency, allowing the medical staff to focus more on what truly matters—providing top-notch care for their patients. MEG is helping Honduras Medical Center optimize its quality management processes, freeing up time and resources to drive strategic initiatives and enhance patient safety.

Looking Ahead Together

This collaboration is more than just the adoption of new software—it's a partnership built on shared values of innovation and a relentless pursuit of improvement in patient safety and quality management.

To learn more about MEG and how we can help your organization, visit MEG website or get in touch with us directly.

MEG Celebrates Win in the Deloitte 2024 Technology Fast 50 Awards

Mark O’Reilly, Edel Churchill, Kerrill Thornhill, Leonora O’Brien and Helga Morrow from the MEG team at the Deloitte 2024 Technology Fast 50 Awards

MEG, a leading provider of healthcare quality, patient safety, and compliance software, attributes its growth to the dedication and talent of its team, along with its focus on innovation in healthcare technology.

Dublin, Ireland, 29 November 2024 — MEG today announced it has been ranked 24th in the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Ireland. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over four years.

MEG’s CEO, Kerrill Thornhill, credits the company’s remarkable growth to its team's creativity, drive, and close collaboration with customers to continually improve MEG’s platform. He said, "This achievement is a testament to the unwavering dedication and hard work of our entire team. Being recognised among Ireland’s fastest-growing companies is an acknowledgement of our overall success, but also of the meaningful impact we are making in the healthcare sector, helping to improve patient safety and save significant time for frontline staff by reducing manual administrative tasks. We are incredibly proud of our journey and are excited for what’s ahead."

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards is one of Ireland’s foremost technology award programmes. It is a ranking of the country's 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over four years, and this year marks 25 years of the programme celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship in Ireland’s indigenous technology sector.

Cumulatively, the 2024 Fast 50 winners generated €1.4 billion in total annual revenues and now employ over 6,200 people. The average revenue of companies featured in the ranking was approximately €28 million, while the average growth rate of the companies over the last four years was 572%. The awards programme also saw 11 new entrants appearing on the ranking for the first time. The companies ranked identified finding, hiring, and retaining top talent and international expansion as two of the biggest challenges they face in trying to grow their business.

Announcing the winners of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 programme, James Toomey, Partner and Fast 50 lead at Deloitte, said: “While Ireland has solidified its reputation as a global hub for technological excellence, the true highlight has been the remarkable growth of homegrown tech talent. Over the past 25 years, the Fast 50 programme has been at the heart of this story, championing the innovation and ambition of indigenous tech companies in Ireland. The Fast 50 rankings are a badge of honour, offering trusted recognition based on four years of revenue growth. This credibility distinguishes the programme and not only identifies the tech leaders of tomorrow but signals their readiness to scale globally. Congratulations to all the companies and individuals whose hard work and innovation have earned them a well-deserved place on this year's Fast 50 ranking—your achievements set the standard for excellence in tech.

About MEG

MEG is a digital quality management system for healthcare. Its suite of configurable mobile and cloud-based tools enables providers to engage staff in quality improvement, patient safety, and manage compliance with accreditation or regulatory standards. The easy-to-use modules can be used by frontline workers on any device to collect data from all over an organisation. They can capture incidents, conduct audits, risk assessments, feedback surveys, and access documents and information anytime at the point of care. Management can collate, analyse and act upon real-time information and metrics across multiple sites, consolidating data into a centralised platform. MEG operates in more than 20 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australasia, and Latin America and offers multilingual support.