Briefings: A Tool to Improve Safety Culture in a Pediatric Emergency Room

Background Safety briefings are short, informative meetings intended to integrate a culture of patient safety into daily clinical practice, which contributes to identifying risks and improving quality. The objective of this study is to present safety briefings as a method for discovering and addressing safety events in a pediatric emergency room, describe how professionals perceive them, and characterize the classification and evolution of the incidents identified. Methods This observational, descriptive, analytical study was performed in the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary hospital in 2018–2019. The incidents reported during the briefings were counted, classified, and analyzed. Results of a 10-item survey on the usefulness of the briefings in identifying and managing risks are described. Results A total of 498 briefings were analyzed, in which 1,180 incidents were reported (1 incident/96 emergency cases; 2.4 incidents/meeting). The category with the most incidents was Communication. The number of incidents fell by 30.5% between 2018 and 2019 (p Conclusion Patient safety briefings are perceived as a useful tool to report incidents, and incidents related to communication occur most frequently. Safety briefings are perceived as useful for improving patient safety in pediatric emergency rooms, and this method of notification is considered more convenient than other methods.