Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya Primary Care Research Group (UMPCRG), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia khooem@um.edu.my
  • 2 Department of Health Outcomes Research, Institute for Health Systems Research, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Malaysia
  • 3 Luyang Health Clinic, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya Primary Care Research Group (UMPCRG), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 6 Klinik Kesihatan Tanglin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 7 Department of Medical Services, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia
  • 8 Office of the Deputy Director General of Health (Research & Technical Support), Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia
Asia Pac J Public Health, 2015 Sep;27(6):670-7.
PMID: 25563351 DOI: 10.1177/1010539514564007

Abstract

This study aimed to develop an intervention to reduce medical errors and to determine if the intervention can reduce medical errors in public funded primary care clinics. A controlled interventional trial was conducted in 12 conveniently selected primary care clinics. Random samples of outpatient medical records were selected and reviewed by family physicians for documentation, diagnostic, and management errors at baseline and 3 months post intervention. The intervention package comprised educational training, structured process change, review methods, and patient education. A significant reduction was found in overall documentation error rates between intervention (Pre 98.3% [CI 97.1-99.6]; Post 76.1% [CI 68.1-84.1]) and control groups (Pre 97.4% [CI 95.1-99.8]; Post 89.5% [85.3-93.6]). Within the intervention group, overall management errors reduced from 54.0% (CI 49.9-58.0) to 36.6% (CI 30.2-43.1) and medication error from 43.2% (CI 39.2-47.1) to 25.2% (CI 19.9-30.5). This low-cost intervention was useful to reduce medical errors in resource-constrained settings.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.