To learn more about incident reporting, check out Title 10 U.S.C. 1102, Confidentiality of Medical Quality Assurance Records.
Incidents occur throughout medicine. A few of them we can categorize as an incident that:
- Can harm the individual
- Has the potential to harm someone
- Can cause serious dissatisfaction for patients, visitors, or staff
- Can cause risk-management issues
What are some examples of an incident?
An example of an incident might occur if someone who is not even a staff member helps a patient off the bed and the patient falls and injures him or herself. Another incident can perhaps be a provider administering too much of a medication into a patient rendering that patient physical harm. Another example would be a patient who is very upset with the service you are providing for them.
What is Quality Care Review (QCR)?
Staff members are expected to report and make aware of any incidents that may occur in the hospital setting. The way they do this is by using the quality care system.
The Quality Care Review (QCR) is a process that documents all details surrounding an event. It alerts the commanding officer, the Command Risk Manager, and any other administrators or clinicians who might be involved in the situation. The QCR also collects data and evaluates the statistics of these types of incidents that take place in the facility.
Are Quality Care Reviews confidential?
QCRs contain a lot of information that would be of interest to persons filing claims or lawsuits against the Navy for alleged substandard medical care. Even though the law recognizes that hospitals need a way of documenting incidences, most states have laws that make these incident reports confidential. This means that not anyone can just obtain a copy of the incident report to help with their legal action against a hospital.
How do you obtain a copy of the Quality Care Review?
QCRs can lose their protected status if they are misused and mishandled. Before making copies, you must first get approval from the risk manager and the legal officer.
Quality Care Reviews are must contain only the facts
This report should not be included in the patient’s treatment record. This report should detail and be limited only to the facts. It may not contain opinions or conclusions. If any results for conclusions need to be made, they should be separately directed to the risk manager of the hospital.
Where can I get more information about the Risk Manager Program?
If you want to learn more about the guidance towards the Risk Manager Program, it can be found in BEMEDINST 6010.21 series.
