The PRISMA Incident Analysis Method: Improving Patient Safety

The PRISMA (Prevention and Recovering Information System for Monitoring and Analysis) incident analysis method is a widely used method for analyzing and uncovering the root causes of incidents. The PRISMA method is designed to help healthcare organizations identify and address problems that may impact patient safety, and to implement effective solutions to prevent future incidents.

How to use the PRISMA Incident Analysis Method

The PRISMA Incident Analysis Method consists of three main parts, which we will highlight below.
 
First, there is the root cause analysis. During this step you trace the different causes of an incident back to the root cause. Each incident happens as a result of a chain of different events, and during this step you retrace each individual event until you come to the first links in the chain. This will rarely be one straight chain, as we usually see multiple different root causes coming together to influence an incident. During the first step of identifying causes you keep asking “Why?” and “Why else?” and put the answers to these questions in a cause tree.
 
In the second step, you classify the causes identified in the first step. Causes can be sorted into three categories: technical, organizational, and human. Technical issues are those that occur due to a failure of technology or materials, for instance when an electronic system fails to give out the right information on medications due to a bug. An example of an organizational issue would be a nurse being scheduled for too many shifts, causing tiredness. A human error is an unintended and undesired action by a human actor, such as a nurse handing out the wrong medication to their patient.
 
After identifying the root causes and classifying them into the three categories, the third step consists of finding possible solutions to tackle the problem at its roots. Because the PRISMA method reveals all different contributors to an incident, the solutions can be targeted better, and in many cases the causes for an incident are identified more accurately. Overall this helps you improve your incident management by providing more information and giving you an overview.

How Can The Patient Safety Company (TPSC) Help with the PRISMA Incident Analysis Method?

The Patient Safety Company (TPSC) is a leading provider of software solutions for improving patient safety and reducing the risk of medical errors. One of the key products offered by TPSC is our incident management and analysis software, TPSC Cloud™, which is designed to help healthcare organizations manage incidents and conduct effective and efficient incident analyses.
 
The TPSC incident management software is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, with a range of features that make it simple to follow the PRISMA guidelines. Some of the key features of the software include a streamlined input and registration process, the ability to easily analyze data, and clear reporting and presentation of results in dashboards.
 
One of the benefits of using TPSC Cloud™ incident management software is that it has available integrations with several incident analysis methods, such as the PRISMA method. This integration helps to ensure that incident analyses are conducted in a consistent and transparent manner. By following the PRISMA guidelines in TPSC Cloud™, healthcare organizations can improve the quality and reliability of their incident analyses, which can ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.

Using TPSC Cloud for Incident Analysis and Management

As mentioned above, TPSC Cloud™ has integrations with various incident analysis methods. These integrations help your organization keep a grip on the way you look at all incidents, promoting clarity and consistency in your analyses. You can read more about the different analysis methods that are available on our data analysis page, or request a free online demo, where we can show you the integrations in action.
 
If you want to know more about how our software can help you with your incident management process, consider downloading our eBook on incident management. This eBook will help you make the switch to digital incident reporting and show you how to optimize care processes through incident analyses and automated follow-ups. It supports this with a healthcare case study and explains how TPSC can help you with your incident management.