Nurses’ experience of incident reporting culture before and after implementing the Green Cross method: A quality improvement project

BackgroundAdverse events are a leading cause of death worldwide, although many are considered preventable. Incident reporting is a prerequisite for preventing adverse events; however, underreporting is common. The Green Cross method is an alternative incident reporting process that includes a daily team meeting to discuss incidents and work on improvements.ObjectivesThe aim of this quality improvement project was to improve the culture of incident reporting by implementing the Green Cross method and to evaluate the improvement by describing nurses’ experience with the culture of incident reporting.MethodsThe project included a three-month implementation of the method in a postanesthesia care unit, which was evaluated by focus group interviews (n = 22 nurses) and analysed by qualitative content analysis.FindingsFour focus group interviews were conducted before implementation (n = 19 nurses) and four after implementation (n = 16 nurses). Before implementation, Theme 1, “Incident reporting with potential for improvement”, was constructed, describing a culture wherein nurses expressed motivation to report incidents but barriers, such as finding the system complicated and experiencing emotional obstacles towards reporting, prevented them. After implementation, Theme 2, “Increased focus on transparency”, was constructed, describing a culture wherein nurses perceived an increased rate of incident reporting but still encountered barriers, such as finding reporting uncomfortable and demanding, experiencing a threatened working environment, and still wanting visible improvement.ConclusionThe nurses in the postanesthesia care unit experienced the Green Cross method as a useful patient safety initiative for improving the rate of incident reporting, but barriers to reporting still existed.     

Impact of a cleaners’ strike on compensation claims for asthma among teachers in Ontario

BACKGROUND:

A review of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) claims in Ontario from 1998 to 2002 showed an unusual spike in the number of claims accepted for work-exacerbated asthma (WEA) in April 2001.

OBJECTIVE:

To identify the cause for the spike in the number of WSIB claims for WEA in April 2001.

METHODS:

File reviews were performed to identify the occupations of workers with claims accepted for WEA in April 2001 compared with claims during March and May 2001, and during the same months in 2000 and 2002.

RESULTS:

In April 2001, there were 61 accepted WEA claims; the most common occupation was ‘teacher’. In contrast, among educational workers, there was only one WEA claim in the previous month and one in the following month. From March to May in the preceding and following years, there were only four and two claims, respectively. The most frequently implicated causative agents were dust and dirt exposure, which were responsible for 98% of claims; the mean (± SD) number of lost workdays was 6.5±10. The only identified environmental change associated with this spike was a cleaners’ strike at all elementary and high schools in the Toronto District School Board in Ontario, which started on March 31, 2001 and ended on May 1, 2001.

CONCLUSION:

The spike in accepted WEA claims in Ontario in April 2001 was temporally associated with a strike by Toronto District School Board cleaners, suggesting acute symptomatic effects of poor workplace (school) maintenance on asthmatic employees. The WSIB database was sufficiently sensitive to capture this phenomenon.     

Long-term safety and efficacy of rituximab in 7 Japanese patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis

Abstract

Objectives. The safety and efficacy of rituximab were examined in a multicenter open-label pilot study in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) in Japan.

Methods. Patients with refractory AAV were administered a rituximab infusion at a weekly dose of 375 mg/m² for 4 weeks. All patients also received oral daily prednisolone. The primary outcome was complete remission, which was defined as a Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) of 0 or 1.

Results. The mean age of the 7 patients was 57 (range, 34–71) years. The mean follow-up period after rituximab treatment was 62.9 (range, 4.8–81) months. The mean BVAS at entry was 16.7 (range, 2–34). Complete remission occurred in all cases, except in 1 case in which the patient died, with a significant decline in BVAS from baseline at 12 months after initiation of rituximab. Rituximab reduced granulomatous orbital involvement in a patient with granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Relapse occurred in five patients. Adverse events included de novo hepatitis B in one patient, cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer) in two patients, and transient visual disturbance, atypical mycobacterial infection, urinary tract infection, sepsis, and cytomegalovirus infection. Two patients died due to recurrent infections and airway obstruction, caused by an AAV lesion.

Conclusions. Rituximab had a beneficial effect on refractory AAV in Japanese patients, but several adverse effects occurred during rituximab treatment.     

通心络胶囊用药安全性的系统评价

目的系统评价通心络胶囊用药安全性。方法计算机检索《中国生物医学文献数据库》、《中国期刊全文专题数据库》、《中国科技期刊数据库》、万方数据库、Cochrane图书馆和PubMed。手工检索中国药品不良反应监测中心发布的《药品不良反应信息通报》,检索时间为2003年1月至2013年5月。按纳入和排除标准筛选文献,评价文献质量,提取资料。临床试验文献采用MetaAnalyst 3.13进行Meta分析,其余文献采用描述性分析。结果纳入144篇临床试验研究,共有6254人使用通心络胶囊,6006人未使用。与其它化学药或中药相比,单独使用通心络胶囊的神经系统不良事件发生率低于单独使用化学药,同时,通心络胶囊组与对照组的各类型不良事件发生率均相当。在15个病例系列研究中,共701人使用通心络胶囊,其中发生胃肠道反应不良事件52例,皮炎或皮疹不良事件1例。2个病例报告报道1例皮炎或皮疹不良事件。结论通心络胶囊的总体安全性可接受,今后应加强药物不良反应/事件监测力度,为通心络胶囊的临床应用提供高质量证据。     

每日1次地特胰岛素在2型糖尿病胰岛素起始治疗及强化治疗中的应用

随着疾病的进展。多数T2DM患者最终需要接受胰岛素治疗。目前,得到广泛公认的药物治疗途径是由口服降糖药经过单一胰岛素逐渐过渡至多次、多种胰岛素注射治疗。无论是在胰岛素起始治疗中,还是在强化胰岛素治疗（基础胰岛素＋餐时胰岛素方案）中,地特胰岛素的疗效都得到了证实,且相对于其他基础胰岛素而言,具有低血糖风险小、增重少、个体血糖更加稳定的优势。     

颈动脉内膜切除术治疗颈动脉狭窄后不同神经功能缺损患者的安全性分析

目的分析颈动脉狭窄后神经功能缺损患者接受颈动脉内膜切除术（CEA）治疗的安全性。方法回顾性分析首都医科大学宣武医院441例接受CEA治疗的颈动脉狭窄患者的临床资料,根据术前改良Rankin量表（mRS）评分,分为mRS〈3分组（409例）和mRS≥3分组（32例）,分析两组在危险因素方面的特征,比较两组手术的安全性和随访结果。结果①mRS≥3分组术后30d内的脑梗死、脑出血、死亡的发生率高于mRS〈3分组,但两组仅脑梗死发生率的差异有统计学意义,P〈0．01。②术后30d共随访430例患者,mRS〈3分组随访401例,mRS≥3分组29例,两组患者均未出现再狭窄、TIA和卒中。③术后1年,共随访286例患者,mRS〈3分组262例患者中,10例出现再狭窄,2例出现TIA;mRS≥3分组24例患者无再狭窄发生,未发生缺血事件。结论mRS≥3分患者行CEA治疗时术后脑梗死发生率高于mRS〈3分组。长期随访的再狭窄和缺血事件差异无统计学意义。     

Measuring safety culture in Palestinian neonatal intensive care units using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire

Purpose

This study aimed to measure safety culture, examine variations among neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and assess the associations with caregiver characteristics.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional design was used, utilizing the Arabic version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, administered to all 305 nurses and physicians working in the 16 NICUs in the West Bank.

Results

There were 204 participants, comprising of mainly nurses (80.4%), women (63%), 30 years or younger (62.6%), holding a bachelor's degree or more (66.7%), and with at least 5 years of experience in the profession (60.3%). Safety Attitudes Questionnaire mean domain scores ranged from 71.22 for job satisfaction to 63 for stress recognition on a 100-point scale; the scores varied significantly among NICUs (P < .05). About 85% of the participants rated the safety grade either excellent or very good; 71.0% did not report any event in the past year.

Conclusions

We found large variations in safety culture within and between a comprehensive sample of Palestinian NICUs. The findings suggest the need for a customized approach that builds on existing strengths and targets areas of opportunities for improvement to optimize health care delivery to the most vulnerable of patients, sick newborns in the NICU setting.