General practitioners' attitudes toward reporting and learning from adverse events: results from a survey

OBJECTIVE: To investigate GPs' attitudes to and willingness to report and learn from adverse events and to study how a reporting system should function.

DESIGN: Survey.

SETTING: General practice in Denmark.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: GPs' attitudes to exchange of experience with colleagues and others, and circumstances under which such exchange is accepted.

SUBJECTS: A structured questionnaire sent to 1198 GPs of whom 61% responded. RESULTS. GPs had a positive attitude towards discussing adverse events in the clinic with colleagues and staff and in their continuing medical education groups. The GPs had a positive attitude to reporting adverse events to a database if the system granted legal and administrative immunity to reporters. The majority preferred a reporting system located at a research institute.

CONCLUSION: GPs have a very positive attitude towards discussing and reporting adverse events. This project encourages further research and pilot projects testing concrete reporting systems.