چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Patient safety gained widespread public attention in the last 20 years. However, most patient safety
research relied upon professionals’ exceptions and was realised especially in the hospital sector. Gradually patients’
attention has been focused on safety campaigns in inpatient care. We aimed to better assess patients’ perceptions
in primary and ambulatory care.
Methods:A systematic review was conducted by use of database searches with additional reference and hand
searching. The search strategy implied MeSH-terms relating to adverse events, incident reporting and outpatient
care. Relevant articles were selected by applying defined eligibility criteria. Studies exclusively based on hospital
data as well as the professionals’ point of view were excluded.
Results:We included 19 studies. Patients were able to identify events that were traditionally recognised by the
medical community as technical medical aspects (e.g. errors in diagnosis). An important field of patient
participation in prevention of adverse events was proposed in the medication process. Most reported events
however could be described as service quality incidents. Communication problems were shown to have
implications on the occurrence of technical medical aspects and patients’ satisfaction of their care. Further,
unsatisfied patients were more likely to recognize adverse events.
Conclusion:Patients’ perception of patient safety in primary and ambulatorycare broadened the previous focus on
technical medical aspects. Especially communication factors played an important role in the occurrence and
consequence of adverse events and patients’ satisfaction. Future research should concentrate on developing
possible ways to integrate patients’ views and participation in ensuring safety in outpatient care.