Table 4. Quality improvement (QI) strategies as applied in European hospitals: specific patient safety systems; total and per country*, numbers are valid percentages (total item response in absolute numbers).
| Specification of QI strategy | Total | Ireland | Belgium | France | Spain | Poland | Czech Republic | ||
| Adverse event reporting and analysis† (n = 348) | 348 | 22 | 24 | 66 | 106 | 75 | 37 | ||
| 1 | 50.0 | 90.9 | 20.8 | 56.1 | 30.2 | 50.7 | 83.8 | ||
| 2 | 14.4 | 4.5 | 8.3 | 18.2 | 13.2 | 14.7 | 10.8 | ||
| 3 | 28.2 | 4.5 | 58.3 | 22.7 | 43.4 | 25.3 | 5.4 | ||
| 4 | 6.0 | 0 | 8.3 | 3.0 | 12.3 | 5.3 | 0 | ||
| Risk management programme/system† (n = 348) | 348 | 23 | 24 | 66 | 106 | 73 | 38 | ||
| 1 | 39.1 | 91.3 | 16.7 | 40.9 | 34.9 | 21.9 | 57.9 | ||
| 2 | 13.8 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 16.7 | 9.4 | 15.1 | 23.7 | ||
| 3 | 25.3 | 4.3 | 54.2 | 39.4 | 30.2 | 15.1 | 5.3 | ||
| 4 | 18.7 | 0 | 16.7 | 3.0 | 23.6 | 38.4 | 13.2 | ||
| Patient safety person/group | y = 73.5 (347) | y = 95.7 (23) | y = 58.3 (24) | y = 83.1 (65) | y = 75.0 (104) | y = 54.1 (74) | y = 74.4 (39) | ||
| Patient identification systems: use of bracelets in the emergency department | y = 39.8 (334) | y = 56.5 (23) | y = 63.6 (22) | y = 37.3 (61) | y = 38.8 (103) | y = 36.4 (77) | y = 14.7 (34) | ||
| Patient identification systems: use of bracelets for admitted patients | y = 46.5 (333) | y = 100 (23) | y = 90.9 (22) | y = 29.5 (61) | y = 42.2 (102) | y = 35.1 (77) | y = 29.4 (34) | ||
| Drug safety: | |||||||||
| Standardised limited number of drugs | y = 91.4 (348) | y = 73.9 (23) | y = 95.8 (24) | y = 84.6 (65) | y = 99.0 (105) | y = 98.7 (76) | y = 73.7 (38) | ||
| Electronic drug prescription system | y = 39.4 (350) | y = 13.0 (23) | y = 25.0 (24) | y = 33.3 (66) | y = 38.7 (106) | y = 38.2 (76) | y = 86.8 (38) | ||
| Expiration date checked (AMI) | y = 91.4 (315) | y = 81.8 (22) | y = 91.7 (24) | y = 84.8 (46) | y = 90.1 (101) | y = 97.1 (70) | y = 94.7 (38) | ||
| Drugs locked (AMI) | y = 73.5 (317) | y = 81.8 (22) | y = 75.0 (24) | y = 69.6 (46) | y = 43.1 (102) | y = 98.6 (70) | y = 97.4 (38) | ||
| HR drugs separately stored (AMI) | y = 89.9 (316) | y = 85.7 (21) | y = 91.7 (24) | y = 80.4 (46) | y = 90.2 (102) | y = 97.1 (70) | y = 84.2 (38) | ||
| MRSA testing (AMI) | y = 6.9 (306) | y = 4.8 (21) | y = 4.2 (24) | y = 4.7 (43) | y = 0 (99) | y = 14.9 (67) | y = 5.4 (37) | ||
| Reporting complications to medical staff | y = 55.6 (304) | y = 44.4 (18) | y = 35.0 (20) | y = 22.8 (57) | y = 63.6 (88) | y = 58.3 (72) | y = 85.7 (35) | ||
*The results for the UK and the Netherlands are included in the total but not listed separately, due to the very low response rates.
†The sum of percentages may not always equal 100%; the percentage answers ‘don’t know/no answer’ are not listed here. 1 = yes, in most departments (>50%); 2 = yes, in most departments (>50%), but not systematically; 3 = yes, in some departments (<50%); 4 = no. y, yes.
AMI, acute myocardial infarction; MRSA, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.