Incident reporting among physicians-in-training in Japan: A national survey

BACKGROUND: Incident reporting can inform hospital safety. However, under-reporting is preventing this. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide survey among Japanese physicians-in-training by including a questionnaire in the General Medicine In-Training Examination to assess incident reporting behavior and participation in patient safety lectures. RESULTS: Responses of 6,164 physicians-in-training indicated that although 78% had attended patient safety lectures, 44% had not submitted an incident report in the previous year and 40.6% did not know how to submit an incident report. CONCLUSIONS: The discrepancy between attendance at safety courses and incident reporting behavior must be addressed to improve hospital safety.