Enhancing the Effectiveness of Significant Event Analysis: Exploring Personal Impact and Applying Systems Thinking in Primary Care.

Introduction: Significant event analysis (SEA) is well established in many primary care settings but can be poorly implemented. Reasons include the emotional impact on clinicians and limited knowledge of systems thinking in establishing why events happen and formulating improvements. To enhance SEA effectiveness, we developed and tested "guiding tools" based on human factors principles.

Good practice statements on safe laboratory testing: A mixed methods study by the LINNEAUS collaboration on patient safety in primary care.

Background: The systems-based management of laboratory test ordering and results handling is a known source of error in primary care settings worldwide. The consequences are wide-ranging for patients (e.g.

Participatory design of a preliminary safety checklist for general practice.

Background: The use of checklists to minimise errors is well established in high reliability, safety-critical industries. In health care there is growing interest in checklists to standardise checking processes and ensure task completion, and so provide further systemic defences against error and patient harm. However, in UK general practice there is limited experience of safety checklist use.

Patient safety skills in primary care: a national survey of GP educators.

Background: Clinicians have a vital role in promoting patient safety that goes beyond their technical competence. The qualities and attributes of the safe hospital doctor have been explored but similar work within primary care is lacking. Exploring the skills and attributes of a safe GP may help to inform the development of training programmes to promote patient safety within primary care.

Trainees' experiences of a four-year programme for specialty training in general practice.

In 2012 the first Scottish cohort of trainees completed a four-year training programme in general practice. In the same year, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) successfully made the educational case for lengthening training from three to four years in the rest of the UK. This project sought to evaluate the experiences of the initial four-year cohorts (2012 and 2013) to gain the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT).

Applying the Trigger Review Method after a brief educational intervention: potential for teaching and improving safety in GP specialty training?

Background: The Trigger Review Method (TRM) is a structured approach to screening clinical records for undetected patient safety incidents (PSIs) and identifying learning and improvement opportunities. In Scotland, TRM participation can inform GP appraisal and has been included as a core component of the national primary care patient safety programme that was launched in March 2013. However, the clinical workforce needs up-skilled and the potential of TRM in GP training has yet to be tested.

Maximising harm reduction in early specialty training for general practice: validation of a safety checklist.

Background: Making health care safer is a key policy priority worldwide. In specialty training, medical educators may unintentionally impact on patient safety e.g.