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. 2016;7(2):90-6.
doi: 10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2016.02.002.

German critical incident reporting system database of prehospital emergency medicine: Analysis of reported communication and medication errors between 2005-2015

Christian Hohenstein  1 , Thomas Fleischmann  2 , Peter Rupp  3 , Dorothea Hempel  4 , Sophia Wilk  1 , Johannes Winning  5
Affiliations

German critical incident reporting system database of prehospital emergency medicine: Analysis of reported communication and medication errors between 2005-2015

Christian Hohenstein et al. World J Emerg Med. 2016.

Abstract

Background: Communication failure in prehospital emergency medicine can affect patient safety as it does in other areas of medicine as well. We analyzed the database of the critical incident reporting system for prehospital emergency medicine in Germany retrospectively regarding communication errors.

Methods: Experts of prehospital emergency medicine and risk management screened the database for verbal communication failure, non-verbal communication failure and missing communication at all.

Results: Between 2005 and 2015, 845 reports were analyzed, of which 247 reports were considered to be related to communication failure. An arbitrary classification resulted in six different kinds: 1) no acknowledgement of a suggestion; 2) medication error; 3) miscommunication with dispatcher; 4) utterance heard/understood improperly; 5) missing information transfer between two persons; and 6) other communication failure.

Conclusion: Communication deficits can lead to critical incidents in prehospital emergency medicine and are a very important aspect in patient safety.

Keywords: Communication error; Critical incident reporting system; Medication error; Prehospital emergency medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare there is no competing interest related to the study, authors, other individuals or organizations.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Communication failure contributes to the incidents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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