Patient Reporting and Action for a Safe Environment: PRASE

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In A Nutshell:

PRASE stands for Patient Reporting and Action for a Safe Environment. It is a set of evidence-based tools for collecting feedback from patients, residents and service users about how safe they feel whilst receiving care, and presenting this feedback to staff. It was developed by the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group.

The tools are:

1. A set of questions for collecting feedback, called the ‘Patient Measure of Safety’ (PMOS) that has been derived from evidence about the factors that can lead to patient safety incidents. Questions relate to 8 areas that we know contribute to safe and quality care: communication and teamwork; organisation and care planning; access to resources; the environment (e.g. ward); information flow; staff roles and responsibilities; staff training; delays.

2. A format for patients/residents and service users to provide more open-ended and detailed feedback about specific care experiences or incidents (good or bad) which is called the ‘Patient Incident Reporting Tool’ (PIRT).

3. A reporting structure that allows feedback to be provided in a visually appealing way that can help staff plan how they would like to respond.

 

PRASE feedback has been designed to be collected face-to-face through facilitated conversations with the patient and/or their carer. It has not been developed as a self-completed questionnaire.

PRASE tools were originally developed for use in hospital (in-patient) settings but have also been used in emergency departments and adapted for primary care and residential care homes.

This video provides an overview of the logic behind PRASE, its key principles, and how hospital volunteers can be invited to collect feedback from patients.

 

You can request the tools for your own use

PRASE tools (Patient Measures of Safety – PMOS and Patient Incident Reporting Tool – PIRT) can be provided free of charge on request. There are a number of different versions of PMOS now available:

  1. PMOS 44: the original 44 questions developed and used in the Randomized Controlled Trial where PRASE was tested.
  2. PMOS 44 Easy Read: the original 44 questions amended to be as clear as possible for all audiences with a basic level of English.
  3. PMOS 30: a shorter version developed in response to practical need through statistical analysis of the most ‘important’ and ‘representative’ questions.
  4. PMOS 10: a ‘snapshot’ version developed originally for Emergency Department settings where lengthy administration of a face-to-face questionnaire is not possible.
  5. RMOS LD: Instead of being a ‘Patient Measure of Safety’, this is a ‘Resident Measure of Safety’ adapted for use in care home settings for adults with Learning Disabilities (LD).

 

Questionnaires can be provided to you in a format suitable for use, along with guidance on how to collect responses, organise and score the data so that a report can be produced. A sample report can be provided. Depending on your needs and our capacity, we may be able to provide support with data collection, analysis and feedback to staff for improvement. Please get in touch for more information.

 

PRASE is a powerful, evidence based tool to capture patient feedback on patient safety. It is local (ward based, rather than top down) but with the capacity for trust wide collation. It can improve interdisciplinary relationships and enhance a culture of true patient-centred care.
Robin Jeffrey, Consultant Renal Physician

PRASE feedback has triggered a ‘back to basics’ approach with the nursing team, focussing on minimising delays in answering patient’s buzzers.
Jeanne Poblacion, Senior Ward sister