Frequency of and harm associated with primary care safety incidents

To assess frequency and severity of patient safety incidents in primary care. Cross-sectional survey of health-care professionals in Swiss primary care offices. Physicians and nurses in primary care offices were surveyed about the frequency and severity of 23 safety incidents. Differences between professional groups and types of offices were analyzed. Reported incidents were classified in a matrix. A total of 630 individuals (50.2% physicians, 49.8% nurses) participated. Among them, 30% of physicians (95% confidence interval [CI] 25%-35%) and 16.6% of nurses (95% CI 12%-21%) reported that at least 1 of the incidents occurred daily or weekly in their offices (c2 16.1, P