The Ottawa hospital quality incident notification system for capturing adverse events in obstetrics.

Objective: To describe the design and implementation of a Quality Incident Notification (QIN) system in an obstetrical unit and provide an analysis of the frequency and nature of events captured by the system.

Methods: We implemented a system to capture quality events, consisting of an on-line form that was easily accessible to all levels of staff. A list of quality indicators was developed to indicate potential safety concerns, near misses, or poor outcomes that required closer scrutiny.