The use of graphic displays and their influence on awareness and understanding of patient safety incidents: An exploratory study

Background Medical incidents cause harm in both human and veterinary care. Repercussions are similar and reach far beyond the patient, negatively impacting the people close to the patient, healthcare professionals, and the healthcare organization. Whilst good practice is to capture events in incident reporting systems to facilitate learning, critics argue that there is too much focus on this process and too little focus on harnessing the benefits from the data. This exploratory study aimed to investigate how graphic display of data could influence awareness and understanding of patient safety risks.Methods A dashboard graphically displaying incident data was created and a mixed methods approach was utilized to investigate how the dashboard influenced participants awareness and understanding of incidents. Quantitative pre-intervention and post-intervention survey data was integrated with semi-structured interview data through a pillar integration process.Results The survey response rates were 48% (n = 77) and 46% (n = 74), and 12 interviews were conducted. The four pillars: Emerging enlightenment, tools, behaviours and habits, language and education were identified. There was a difference in understanding of incident data between clinically and non-clinically trained participants.Conclusion This novel study suggests that graphic displays of data may bring increased understanding of safety risks, trigger activity, and bridge conversations between clinically and non-clinically trained stakeholders.