SAFEST: Use of a Rubric to Teach Safety Reporting to Pediatric House Officers

BACKGROUND: Among the many modalities of error detection in academic pediatric hospitals, patient safety reporting is an important component, particularly for unexpected events. Residents recognize the importance of reporting but cite some barriers to doing so. A rubric was developed to guide resident reporting and streamline information gathering in patient safety reports. The rubric used the acronym SAFEST as a reminder to include 6 key elements: 1. Staff involved in the incident. 2. Actual event description. 3. Follow-up initiated. 4. Effect on patient. 5. Standard of care described. 6. To-do/suggestions for improvement. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine if the addition of this educational rubric into a standard quality improvement curriculum improves the consistency of information documented in patient safety reports as a subset of a larger quality improvement project aimed at improving safety reporting. METHODS: A team of faculty members analyzed individual resident error reports for adherence to the 6 tenets of the SAFEST mnemonic. RESULTS: From April to October of 2014, 2015, and 2016, a convenience sample of 131, 110, and 132 reports, respectively, were extracted and analyzed. For the rates of reporting “staff involved” and “standard of care,” the differences over time were significant, both with P values < 0.001. After training, residents were 2.2 times more likely to report on the “staff involved” in the error and 1.8 times more likely to report the “standard of care.” DISCUSSION: These results describe successful education on a rubric designed to improve the content of patient safety reports.