Original Research

An Analysis of the Involvement and Attitudes of Resident Physicians in Reporting Errors in Patient Care

Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management. 2021 March;28(2):62-69 | 10.12788/jcom.0040

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Another finding of note is that the majority of residents also feel that the process of filing a PASS report is too time consuming. The majority of residents who have completed a PASS report stated that it took them between 10 and 20 minutes to complete a PASS report, but those same individuals also feel that it should take < 10 minutes to complete a PASS report. This is an important issue for hospital systems to address. Reducing the time it takes to file a PASS report may facilitate an increase in the amount of PASS reports filed.

We administered our surveys using email outreach to residents asking them to complete an anonymous online survey regarding the PASS report system using the REDCap software system. Researchers have various ways of administering surveys, ranging from paper surveys, emails, and even mobile apps. One study showed that online surveys tend to have higher response rates compared to non-online surveys, such as paper surveys and telephone surveys, which is likely due to the ease of use of online surveys.¹⁴ At the same time, unsolicited email surveys have been shown to have a negative influence on response rates. Mobile apps are a new way of administering surveys. However, research has not found any significant difference in the time required to complete the survey using mobile apps compared to other forms of administering surveys. In addition, surveys using mobile apps did not have increased response rates compared to other forms of administering surveys.¹⁵

To increase the response rate of our surveys, we offered gift cards to the study population for completing the survey. Studies have shown that surveys that offer incentives tend to have higher response rates than surveys that do not.¹⁶ Also, in addition to serving as a method for gathering data from our study population, we used our surveys as an intervention to increase awareness of PASS reporting, as reported in other studies. For example, another study used the HABITS questionnaire to not only gather information about children’s diet, but also to promote behavioral change towards healthy eating habits.¹⁷

This study had several limitations. First, the study was conducted using an anonymous online survey, which means we could not clarify questions that residents found confusing or needed further explanation. For example, 17 residents indicated in the first survey that they knew how to PASS report, but 19 residents indicated in the same survey that they have filed a PASS report in the past.

A second limitation of the study was that fewer residents completed the second survey (29 of 54 eligible residents) compared to the first survey (54 of 80 eligible residents). This may have impacted the results of the analysis, as certain findings were not statistically significant, despite trends in the data.