A recent study explores the impact of a family safety-reporting intervention program for hospitalized children with medical complexities. The program implemented a mobile reporting tool, available in English and Spanish, along with educational support for families and staff at a pediatric hospital. The intervention aimed to improve safety reporting and identify medical errors or hazards not captured by hospital staff alone.
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM) faculty member Mark A. Schuster, MD, PhD, Founding Dean and CEO Emeritus, Professor of Health Systems Science, coauthored the study, “A Coproduced Family Reporting Intervention to Improve Safety Surveillance and Reduce Disparities,” published in Pediatrics.
Results showed a slight increase in overall family safety reporting (29.5 percent at baseline vs. 38.2 percent post-intervention), with significant improvements seen among families with lower educational levels and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mobile tool identified a variety of safety events, including 42 medical errors, many of which were missed by voluntary hospital incident reports, suggesting that hospitals can improve safety and equity by actively involving families in the reporting process.
