The impact of the Coronial Communiqué on changing patient safety: a subscriber survey

Abstract

To determine whether the Coronial Communiqué prompted subscribers to initiate changes to clinical practice for patient safety an anonymous, online cross-sectional population survey questionnaire was provided to all registered subscribers to the Communiqué. The main outcome measure was self-reported review and change to practice. From 1325 subscribers invited to participate, 697 complete and valid responses were received (52.6%). Most of the respondents (588; 84.4%) reported the Communiqué provided ideas for improving patient safety, 429 (61.5%) reviewed their practice, and 290 (41.6%) changed their practice. The characteristic most associated with a change in practice was if the subscriber was in clinical practice. This association was evident for ideas (odds ratio [OR], 3.42; 95% CI, 2.24–5.23), review (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.91–3.61) and change to improve practice (OR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.73–3.32).