Patient safety initiatives
Analysing Near Misses
A 'near miss' is an event that could have had adverse consequences, but did not, and was indistinguishable from a fully fledged adverse event in all but the outcome. Some general practices have begun to analyse 'near misses' as part of their quality improvement activities.
To response to a call from general practitioners to assist them in this work, the RACGP National Standing Committee on General Practice Advocacy and Support developed a guide to analysing near misses.
The guide details three ways of analysing near misses - using a cause and effect diagram, using a Haddon matrix, and drawing a timeline of events.
Related files
Cause and effect diagram (50Kb)
Drawing a timeline of events (40Kb)
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Related links
Using near misses to improve the quality of care for your patients (Members only download)
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