Impact Of Organizational Risk Management Policies And Procedures On Incident Reporting Behavior Of Staff : A Perceptive Study In The UAE

Abstract

Background: Incident reporting is a fundamental aspect of healthcare safety management, providing critical data for improving patient care, patient safety and patient outcomes. However, the success of incident reporting systems hinges significantly on the perceptions and attitudes of healthcare staff where organization risk management policies and procedures play a significant role.

Aim: This paper explores staff perceptions and attitudes towards incident reporting and its management, highlighting factors that influence reporting particularly the organization risk management policies and procedures. Drawing from literature and real-world examples, the paper offers recommendations for improving incident reporting practices in healthcare environments.

Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional, design was adopted with a snowball sampling of 108 healthcare professionals from various healthcare organizations in the UAE.

Results: In the survey, 69% of the respondents mentioned that their HCO’s risk management policies promote non-punitive and blame free culture where as 30% of the respondents felt otherwise. Also, 79% of the respondents HCO’s risk management policies encourages them to be part of the analysis of the incident reports and 13% responded otherwise. In regards to HCOs risk management policies protecting staff from punitive actions after reporting, 81% of them agreed to it and about 10% of them felt the HCO’s risk management policies do not protect them.

Conclusion: Healthcare organizations should develop their risk management policies supporting non-punitive and blame free culture, involvement of staff in analysis of incident reports and protection of staff from consequences when they report incidents. And, HCOs should enforce these policies which in turn will improve patient safety and patient outcomes.