Practice Policy and Quality Initiatives

Overcoming Human Barriers to Safety Event Reporting in Radiology

Published Online:Jan 8 2019https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.2019180135

Abstract

Human factor barriers interfere with safety event reporting and require specific countermeasures at the organizational, leadership employee, and frontline employee levels to establish a culture of safety in which all employees feel comfortable raising safety concerns.

In high-reliability industries that are dedicated to ensuring safety, safety event reporting is the cornerstone of improvement. However, human factors can interfere with consistent reporting. Common human factors that are barriers to safety event reporting include liability concerns; time constraints; physician autonomy; self-regulation; collegiality; the lack of listening, language training, and/or feedback regarding reported events; unclear responsibilities within safety teams; and a high reporting threshold. Other barriers include fears of challenging authority, being disrespected, retribution, and the creation of a difficult work environment. These factors are reviewed in the health care setting, and the countermeasures that need to be introduced at the frontline employee, leadership employee (physicians and managers), and departmental and organizational levels to create a culture of safety in which all employees feel comfortable raising safety concerns are discussed.

^©RSNA, 2019

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Article History

Received: Apr 13 2018
Revision requested: May 31 2018
Revision received: June 29 2018
Accepted: July 13 2018
Published online: Jan 08 2019
Published in print: Jan 2019

Vol. 39, No. 1

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Abbreviations

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AHRQ	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

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