Table 2 Indirect impact on patient care

Indirect impact on patient care (n = 46, 54.1%)

System administration, information, and documentation (n = 22, 47.8%)

Error made by member of hospital administrative staff:

・misidentification of information and/or documents (e.g., fax number, patient profile, etc.) (7 cases)

・error in patients’ documents or database (7 cases)

・error in contact and coordination with other departments (4 cases)

・error in administration of electronic (digital) systems (4 cases)

The staff put a blood type seal on the wrong patient’s chart. (No. 80)

After the staff entered accounting management system data, the system was slow to process the data, so patients had to wait for a long time. (No. 34)

Reception (n = 9, 19.6%)

When a member of hospital administrative staff works in hospital reception:

・miscommunication (4 cases)

・misidentification of exam documents and administration of patient’s information (each 2 cases)

・entering incorrect treatment information by administrative staff member (1 case)

The patient talked with the hospital staff about having an MRI. The staff said it depended on the situation, but the patient had come to the hospital because they thought they could have the MRI that day. (No. 6)

Reported another co-worker’s error (n = 8, 17.4%)

When a member of hospital administrative staff finds a co-worker’s error:

・doctor’s error (5 cases, including one misidentification case)

・nurse’s error (2 cases)

・nutritionist’s error (1 case)

The staff received a call from a pharmacy about a doctor’s incorrect drug prescription. (No. 13)

Accounting (n = 6, 13.0%)

When a member of hospital administrative staff works in hospital accounting:

・accounting value error (4 cases)

・prescription accounting error (1 case)

・misidentification of patient’s ID card (1 case)

The patient had to wait a long time because an error occurred in the accounting document. (No. 23)

Others (n = 1, 2.2%)

When a member of hospital administrative staff mails information to a nurse about medical checkups for hospital staff:

・misidentification due to nominal similarity of nurse’s name (1 case)

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