Why choose Q-Pulse Occurrence Reporting and Incident Management System?

Introduction

Is your organisation looking to foster a culture of reporting and learning from incidents?

When building a culture of safety, reporting and timely management of incidents is crucial. Organisations must encourage staff to report incidents, viewing them as opportunities for improvement. Utilising a software based solution rather than a paper-based system not only provides a more user friendly and accessible format for staff to report incidents but it also means that managers are immediately informed of an incident and can act promptly to investigate and address any issues.

In this blog post we discuss the Q-Pulse Occurrence Reporting and Incident Management System (IMS) Modules and how they can support you in building a patient safety culture through effective reporting and management of incidents.

About the Q-Pulse Incident Management System Module

The Q-Pulse Occurrence Reporting and Incident Management System Modules provides a centralised system to assist with the control, co-ordination and management of clinical and non-clinical incidents across the organisation. Not only this, the system can also be used to record and manage any positive feedback or complaints received.

The IMS module ensures information is effectively captured, minimises the risk of data inaccuracy and avoids data duplication. The IMS also allows for workflows to be customised to reflect the type of information being reported, the level of investigation needed and the required follow up action.

Below are just some of the useful features and benefits of the Q-Pulse IMS Module that can contribute to a more efficient incident management process for your organisation.

Features and benefits of the Q-Pulse Incident Management System

• Customise your IMS

The Occurrence Reporting and IMS modules are separate modules to the core Q-Pulse package. The modules are fully customisable to your organisation’s requirements including the use of terminology relevant to your organisation, the types of reports you want, permission groups and workflows. Your requirements are identified at the start of the project during the process mapping stage.

• Save views, save time

Within the Occurrence Reporting Module users can access a list of the incidents reported. The information displayed in the list can be tailored to your specific requirements such as incident number, type, date, summary, logged by etc. Rather than creating your preferred view each time you log on you can “Save view”. This is useful for example, if you need to print a report for a meeting. Having a saved view reduces workload and gives you instant access to the information you need.

• Add attachments

When reporting an incident, you have the option to add an attachment which can be useful for further information or evidence of an incident, complaint or feedback.

• Dynamic Search Folders

Dynamic search folders provide you with automatically updated search results based on your criteria.  For example, where one of the search fields is set to search for incidents from “this month”, then it will only show incidents reported that month. It does not show any incidents from previous months. The benefit of this is that you do not have to set up a new search each month, the system atomically recognises when it is a new month.

Another benefit of the search folders is that you can give permission to a colleague to access the search folder.

• Classifications of Incidents

When reporting an incident, you have the option to classify it under an incident type for example, infection control, harm to person, medication management etc. This is helpful when analysing incidents by type or department. Having accurate data enables better, more informed decision making.

• Permission Based

Security groups and user permissions are used in Q-Pulse to control what each user is allowed to see and do. This gives you control over your system, protects data that may be sensitive and enhances productivity as users are not bombarded with information that is non-essential to their roles.

• Supports Risk Management

The IMS module allows you to perform a risk assessment on incidents in order to assess the impact that the incident has on your organisation. The risk matrix utilised by your organisation is customisable and is generally based on the severity of the risk and the likelihood of it happening.

• Supports Staff Communication and Learning

On closeout of an incident an email notification can be sent to the person who logged the incident. This improves communication and provides insight into the outcome of the incident once they logged it on the system.

• Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions

When managing the incident in the IMS module, the owner can assign corrective actions/preventative (CA/PA) actions to the appropriate people within the organisation. An email notification will be sent to the person to say that they are the owner or the CA/PA and must take appropriate action to support the management and closeout of the incident.

• Incident Routing / Email Messaging

Incident routing can be configured so that automatic email notifications are sent to specific people when a stage of the incident has progressed. For example, if an incident is reported, accepted or edited on the system. Email notifications can be customised to your requirements.

Conclusion

Incident reporting is a cornerstone of quality improvement in healthcare. Having an electronic system such as Q-Pulse, for reporting and managing all incidents ensures that you are promoting an open and safe reporting culture within your organisation.

The Q-Pulse Occurrence and IMS modules help to reduce the barriers to effective incident management such as time, the level of detail recorded, access to information, and who’s responsibility is it.

An electronic system also helps with the classification of incidents and provides more valuable data with respect to what type, where and when incidents are occurring. This type of information is much more easily accessible when using an electronic system.

HCI is a provider of professional services in relation to patient safety, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance. As healthcare partners with Ideagen, supporting Q-Pulse users in healthcare for the last 15 years, HCI really know Q-Pulse inside and out.

We understand your requirements when it comes to incident management and we have the necessary expertise to support you with the implementation and maintenance of Q-Pulse Incident Management System. Our goal is to make incident management easier and more beneficial for you.