April 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 4
Family physicians, policy center to research patient safety
The Academy is planning the nation's first study on patient safety in family physicians' offices.
"Right now, there are no studies on medical errors or patient safety in U.S. ambulatory care," says James Galliher, Ph.D.
"We know medical and administrative errors jeopardize patient safety in hospitals," says Galliher, research affairs manager in the AAFP Scientific Activities Division. "We also know the government will mandate ambulatory care studies. This project puts us ahead of the curve."
A pilot study will be conducted by 50 family physicians in AAFP's new National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research. Participants will report and describe 10 errors they observe in their practices; tell whether patients are involved in the errors; say what might have prevented the errors; and note characteristics such as the patients' and physicians' age, gender and ethnicity.
No patient names will be recorded, and physician names will not be part of the study data.
The AAFP Center for Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care in Washington, D.C., will analyze the data by late this year.
"This pilot study is the beginning of a whole program of research on patient safety in primary care," says Susan Dovey, M.P.H., policy center analyst and principal investigator for the study. The research project dovetails with the Institute of Medicine report calling for studies of medical errors. (See next story.)
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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