6 Benefits of Using an Incident Management System in Healthcare

An incident management system collects and analyzes healthcare incident data to improve safety and quality of care. With incident reporting software in place, healthcare organizations can more efficiently identify safety hazards and take corrective action to prevent harm.

Furthermore, having a formalized and consistent incident management process improves outcomes, boosts patient satisfaction, and promotes a culture of continuous improvement. Continue reading to learn more about the important benefits of incident management in healthcare.  

Identify Issues to Prevent Future Harm

An incident management system allows healthcare leaders to collect data and identify root causes of safety events easily and efficiently. By being able to visually observe safety patterns and trends, leadership can better asses the incident and more quickly take action to remove root cause(s) that led to it. In doing so, they also prevent related events from reoccurring in the future.

Creates a Consistent Process

With incident management software, institutions can more efficiently implement a streamlined, consistent process for reporting. 

Process consistency helps to ensure that different people doing the same task approach their work in a similar way and in a manner that minimizes errors and variation in process outcomes. It also increases transparency throughout the organization, as all employees understand expectations and know what to anticipate during follow-up management. 

Consistency can also simplify the reporting process, and thus increase reporting, according to Quality & Safety in Health Care.

Creates a Culture of Continuous Improvement

According to the Office of the Inspector General, 86% of patient harm events are not reported due to staff misunderstanding what constitutes patient harm.

Data derived from incident reports can be very valuable in understanding past events and can be a useful tool for ongoing training of healthcare workers. It also allows for continuous assessment of patient related operations to improve quality of care as well as the patient experience.

Mitigates Risk

The average medical malpractice settlement in the United States awards $242,000, while those that go to trial average around $1,000,000. Healthcare organizations can reduce malpractice costs by mitigating risk through an incident management system.
Incident reporting software cuts down on these costs by enabling organizations to take a more proactive, risk-based approach to incident management. Robust data analytics allow management to quickly identify and correct safety gaps to stay ahead of incidents and minimize risk exposure. 

Emphasizes a Commitment to Safety

An incident management system demonstrates an organization’s commitment to employee and patient safety, as it involves all stakeholders in safety improvement processes. Fostering a culture of safety in which healthcare workers are encouraged to report safety issues without fear of repercussions creates safer work and care environments. 

Improves Workplace Efficiency 

Incident management systems have been shown to improve employee engagement, which in turn enhances employee performance and workplace efficiency. Engaged employees are 1.5 times more likely to receive top performance ratings than content employees and three times more likely to receive top performance ratings than disengaged employees.

Implementing an Incident Management System at Your Organization

Incident reporting software like Performance Health Partners’ can help streamline the incident management process, making it more convenient for the entire care team to play a role in improving patient and employee safety. Learn how an incident management system can help your organization improve outcomes and which key features to look for in a software in our free whitepaper.