Health care quality management by means of an incident report system and an electronic patient record system.

Abstract

Quality management in health care services has not been as successful as in other industries. To assess the potential contribution of an on-line incident reporting system (OIRS) and of an electronic patient record (EPR) system to quality management in hospitals. The two approaches are being implemented in Osaka University Hospital. Analysis of the early use of the on-line reporting system indicates that this qualitative approach has been effective to avoid adverse medical events. The quantitative methodology with the EPR is still in the phase of developing. Direct data entry by medical staff and an EPR based on dynamic templates and a dynamic problem oriented approach could be useful for building clinical data repositories that can support clinical quality management.