Rachel Spencer

University of Nottingham | Notts · School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy

Background: In the course of producing a patient safety toolkit for primary care, we identified the need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. This paper describes the development of a prototype checklist designed to be used in busy...

Background We identified a need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. The process of development is described from initial expert consensus of a long list of items suitable for inclusion on the checklist through their refinement foll...

Background In the course of producing a patient safety toolkit for primary care, we identified the need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. This paper describes the development of a prototype checklist designed to be used in busy g...

Background In the course of producing a patient safety toolkit for primary care, we identified the need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. This paper describes the development of a prototype checklist designed to be used in busy g...

Background In the course of producing a patient safety toolkit for primary care, we identified the need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. This paper describes the development of a prototype checklist designed to be used in busy g...

Objective: Major gaps remain in our understanding of primary care patient safety. We describe a toolkit for measuring patient safety in family practices. Methods: Six tools were used in 46 practices. These tools were as follows: National Health Service Education for Scotland Trigger Tool, National Health Service Education for Scotland Medicines...

Despite 340 000 000 primary care consultations annually in the UK, most of the literature on patient safety has focused on hospital-based services. To improve safety in primary care settings, we must know what methods, tools and indicators are available to measure and monitor patient safety. In collaboration with patient safety experts at the Unive...

Background: Patient safety in primary care is a developing field with an embryonic but evolving evidence base. This narrative review aims to identify tools that can be used by family practitioners as part of a patient safety toolkit to improve the safety of the care and services provided by their practices. Methods: Searches were performed in 6...

Background The majority of patient contacts occur in general practice but general practice patient safety has been poorly described and under-researched to date compared to hospital settings. Our objective was to produce a set of patient safety tools and indicators that can be used in general practices in any healthcare setting and develop a ‘toolk...

Medication error is an important contributor to patient morbidity and mortality and is associated with inadequate patient safety measures. However, prescribing-safety tools specifically designed for use in general practice are lacking. To identify and update a set of prescribing-safety indicators for assessing the safety of prescribing in general p...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In this series we present a number of prescribing safety indicators developed as part of an RCGP project.1 The evidence base behind each of the indicators is given along with information to illustrate their clinical significance. We provide a ‘real-life’ audit based on the indicator to show how practices could begin to analyse their own prescribing...

In the UK, a process of revalidation is being introduced to allow doctors to demonstrate that they meet current professional standards, are up-to-date, and fit to practise. Given the serious risks to patients from hazardous use of medicines it will be appropriate, as part of the revalidation process, to assess the safety of prescribing by GPs. To i...

This article is a summary and update for prescribing clinicians and primary care managers who are interested in medication error in general practice. It summarizes the state of primary care prescribing in the UK and reviews areas in which there is potential for error. Practical solutions and methods to mitigate the impact of error are presented alo...