Learning from Errors in Ambulatory Pediatrics Study (LEAP)

Aims

The purpose of this study is to improve pediatric patient safety by reducing errors and adverse outcomes in ambulatory settings. Patients in inpatient care settings represent only a small part of the population at risk for errors because ambulatory settings provide an increasing proportion of care.

More specifically, we intend to accomplish three goals:

1. Develop a web-based tool for documenting and reporting errors and near misses in pediatric ambulatory settings.

2. Create a secure method of reporting errors and near misses in the ambulatory environment via the Internet.

3. Identify types of errors and near misses that are occurring in children's healthcare.

At the end of this project we will have developed and tested a simple tool for reporting errors and near misses. The tool will help us to identify types of errors that may be common across multiple practices. We anticipate that we will identify several types of patients who are at greatest risk for errors. This type of information will be instrumental to the subsequent design of interventions to reduce errors and improve patient safety for children in further studies