Research Projects

Safer Organisations

An Evaluation of the Implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)

The aim of the project is to document the processes used at UCLH to explore the implementation of PSIRF. PSIRF is a framework that aims to respond to patient safety incidents in an effective an adequate manner, also with the objective of learning from patient incidents to improve patient safety.

The study will use a qualitative research design based mainly on interviews and observations with staff, patients and caregivers who have participated in debriefing processes to understand the factors acting as barriers and enablers in implementation and lessons learnt for the implementation of PSIRF in other contexts. The following research questions will be studied:

• What is the programme theory underpinning PSIRF and how does it develop overtime?

• What are staff and patients’ perceptions of PSIRF?

• What are the processes used to implement PSIRF? How do these develop over time?

• What training and support mechanisms are most effective for staff using PSIRF?

• What are the factors acting as barriers and facilitators in the implementation of PSIRF? Is there variation across clinical areas?

• What are the lessons for implementing programmes of this kind in other contexts?

The study moves beyond existing evaluations of PSIRF by introducing an inequalities lens to explore how factors such as class, ethnicity and gender shape patients' and staff's engagement with PSIRF. The study also includes the first systematic review on how conversations after a patient incident might be shaped the factors outlined above.

Lead Investigator

Cecilia Vindrola-Padros