Use of routinely collected data to improve patient safety in primary care

Project summary

Background and methods

The imperative in primary care is to develop sustainable strategies that for monitoring patient harm and to prevent future adverse events. For this to be achieved, research specific to the English primary care structure is required. Large volumes of clinical, demographic and administrative patient information are routinely collected in this care setting. This research project will examine how existing information and databases can be best used to improve patient safety in primary care. We will apply a range of methods including literature review, quantitative analyses using datasets from primary and secondary care and informal consultations with healthcare professionals.

Project aims

This work is focused on developing methods to detect potentially preventable adverse events in primary care that may be amenable to organisational change. There are a number of stages to this project that are outlined as follows:

A review of the literature to identify current understanding of errors and adverse events in primary care, to assess the availability of routinely collected data on patient care, and to examine the implementation of information and surveillance systems for monitoring patient safety.
Development of a set of patient safety indicators for primary care, drawing from electronically stored patient records from primary care trusts and secondary care information systems, such as Hospital Episode Statistics.
Preliminary application and evaluation of the patient safety indicators among local primary care trusts.

Project team

Carmen Tsang (key contact and Principal Investigator)
Azeem Majeed
Paul Aylin

Key project outputs

Peer-reviewed papers:

Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin A. Consultations with general practitioners on patient safety measures based on routinely collected data in primary care. J R Soc Med Sh Rep 2012;3:5. DOI 10.1258/shorts.2011.011104.
Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin P. Routinely recorded patient safety events in primary care: a literature review. Family Practice 2011; doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmr050.
Tsang C, Majeed A, Banarsee R, Gnani S, Aylin P. Adverse events in English general practice: analysis of data from electronic patient records. Inform Prim Care. 2010;18(2):117-24.

Conference presentations:

Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin P (2010) Adverse events in English general practice: analysis using administrative data (Oral poster presentation). International Society of Quality and Safety in Healthcare (ISQua), 11th-13th October.
Tsang C, Majeed A, Banarsee R, Gnani S, Aylin P (2010) Adverse events in English general practice (oral presentation). Society of Academic Primary Care Annual Conference, Norwich, 7th-10th July (shortlisted for Early Career Researcher's prize).
Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin P (2010) Recording of adverse events in English general practice: analysis of data from electronic patient records (poster). Patient Safety Congress, Birmingham, 25th-26th May.
Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin P (2010) Recording of adverse events in English general practice: analysis of data from electronic patient records (abstract accepted). Working Conference Health Services Research in Europe, The Hague, 8th-9th April.
Tsang C, Majeed A, Aylin P (2010) The use of administrative data to measure adverse events in primary care: evidence from the literature (poster). UK Annual Public Health Forum, Bournemouth, 24th-25th March.
Tsang C, Aylin P, Majeed A (2009) Patient safety indicators for primary care (poster). National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) 3rd Annual UK Patient Safety Conference, London, 16th December.
Tsang C, Aylin P, Majeed A (2009) Patient safety indicators for primary care (poster). International Society of Quality and Safety in Healthcare (ISQua), Dublin 12th-14th October.
Tsang C, Aylin P, Majeed A (2009) Patient safety indicators for primary care (poster). Patient Safety Congress, Birmingham, 31st April-1st May.