Exploring patient safety risk in an emergency ward for substance use through a mixed-method analysis
(2024) In BMC Health Services Research 24.- Abstract
- Background:
There is limited knowledge of how psychiatric patient safety measures can detect and understand risk as an emergent property within a healthcare system. Overcrowding poses a risk for patient safety in psychiatric emergency wards and is associated with increased mortality and violence. This paper aims to explore patterns of risk emergence in a psychiatric ward and provide insights into the dynamics of workload pressure.
Method:
A case study was conducted in a psychiatric emergency ward for patients with substance use disorders. The study employed a four-phased mixed-methods design. Phase one used clinical experts to identify patient safety pressure issues. Phase two used data on patient visits... (More) - Background:
There is limited knowledge of how psychiatric patient safety measures can detect and understand risk as an emergent property within a healthcare system. Overcrowding poses a risk for patient safety in psychiatric emergency wards and is associated with increased mortality and violence. This paper aims to explore patterns of risk emergence in a psychiatric ward and provide insights into the dynamics of workload pressure.
Method:
A case study was conducted in a psychiatric emergency ward for patients with substance use disorders. The study employed a four-phased mixed-methods design. Phase one used clinical experts to identify patient safety pressure issues. Phase two used data on patient visits extracted from medical records between 2010 and 2020. In phase three, a quantitative analysis of patient visits and diagnosis was made. Phase four used a focus group of clinical experts for a semi-structured interview, analysing the result from phase three.
Result:
Trend analysis demonstrated a steady growth of patient visits to the emergency ward over the studied ten-year period. The findings showed a decrease in patients being diagnosed with delirium when visiting the emergency ward and an increase in percentage of patients receiving a psychosis diagnosis. The focus group expressed concerns about delayed treatments, increased violence and underestimating patients’ needs.
Conclusion:
This study indicated that increased workload pressure can be predicted at a system level by analysing patient visits and diagnostics trends over time. The study advocates for ongoing awareness of patient safety risks by monitoring factors identified by clinical front-end workers as potential sources of risk. Healthcare management could employ supportive tools to detect and address emerging risks, including expected workload, overcrowding, staffing issues or bed shortages. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3843ce79-c7d0-40df-926e-1fda39fbcbad
- author
- Svensson, Jakob LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-01-31
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- BMC Health Services Research
- volume
- 24
- article number
- 153
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:38297311
- scopus:85183692741
- ISSN
- 1472-6963
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12913-024-10621-z
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3843ce79-c7d0-40df-926e-1fda39fbcbad
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-01 08:37:50
- date last changed
- 2024-03-07 14:29:38
@article{3843ce79-c7d0-40df-926e-1fda39fbcbad,
abstract = {{<i>Background:</i><br/>There is limited knowledge of how psychiatric patient safety measures can detect and understand risk as an emergent property within a healthcare system. Overcrowding poses a risk for patient safety in psychiatric emergency wards and is associated with increased mortality and violence. This paper aims to explore patterns of risk emergence in a psychiatric ward and provide insights into the dynamics of workload pressure.<br/><br/><i>Method:</i><br/>A case study was conducted in a psychiatric emergency ward for patients with substance use disorders. The study employed a four-phased mixed-methods design. Phase one used clinical experts to identify patient safety pressure issues. Phase two used data on patient visits extracted from medical records between 2010 and 2020. In phase three, a quantitative analysis of patient visits and diagnosis was made. Phase four used a focus group of clinical experts for a semi-structured interview, analysing the result from phase three.<br/><br/><i>Result:</i><br/>Trend analysis demonstrated a steady growth of patient visits to the emergency ward over the studied ten-year period. The findings showed a decrease in patients being diagnosed with delirium when visiting the emergency ward and an increase in percentage of patients receiving a psychosis diagnosis. The focus group expressed concerns about delayed treatments, increased violence and underestimating patients’ needs.<br/><i><br/>Conclusion:</i><br/>This study indicated that increased workload pressure can be predicted at a system level by analysing patient visits and diagnostics trends over time. The study advocates for ongoing awareness of patient safety risks by monitoring factors identified by clinical front-end workers as potential sources of risk. Healthcare management could employ supportive tools to detect and address emerging risks, including expected workload, overcrowding, staffing issues or bed shortages.}},
author = {{Svensson, Jakob}},
issn = {{1472-6963}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Health Services Research}},
title = {{Exploring patient safety risk in an emergency ward for substance use through a mixed-method analysis}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10621-z}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12913-024-10621-z}},
volume = {{24}},
year = {{2024}},
}