All MUSC employees are encouraged to use our incident reporting system, Patient Safety Net (PSN), if they witness a medical error, harm, or risk of harm to a patient. Nationally, how effective are incident reporting systems in improving patient safety? Research suggests improvement is needed. Four characteristics must be present for an effective system:

• A supportive environment that protects the confidentiality of the persons reporting the events
• Reports received from a broad range of personnel
• Summaries of events disseminated in a timely manner
• A structured mechanism for reviewing reports and the creation of action plans.

In this 2008 study, it was found few hospitals have these characteristics. Only 13% had broad employee involvement; most reports were made by nurses. Only 20% fully disseminated summary reports. Barriers to full implementation of a reporting system include liability concerns and a lack of resources to analyze large volumes of events.