Open Disclosure (OD) is the open discussion of incidents that have resulted in harm to a patient while receiving health care.
Open Disclosure is a key component of clinical incident management in Queensland Health and is integrated into the Queensland Health Clinical Incident Management Implementation Standard (CIMIS) 2009. Queensland Health is committed to Open Disclosure and to providing honest and factual responses to patients, families and staff who experience, or are affected by, serious adverse events. This commitment will ensure that patients/families will experience a reliable, caring and effective response from Queensland Health after such an event. The focus of Open Disclosure is primarily to assist affected patients/families and clinicians with the grief associated with an adverse event. Staff involved in serious adverse events are usually frightened and vulnerable, and these emotions reduce their ability to focus on the needs of the affected patient or family.
Open Disclosure comprises of two components, Clinican and Formal Open Disclosure. Clinican Open Disclosure is defined as an informal process where the treating clinician informs the patient of what has occurred, and expresses their regret for the harm caused or adverse outcome.
Formal Open Disclosure is the structured process to ensure communication between the patient, senior clinician and the organisation. To enable this process, an Open Disclosure Team involving members of the clinical team and the organisation executive is activated prior to the meeting with the patient or family. A senior clinician who is trained as an Open Disclosure Consultant leads this team through the OD process. Formal Open Disclosure involves multidisciplinary discussions that support clinical incident management processes and provides a format that facilitates and enables open communication between patients, families, clinicians, senior clinical leaders and hospital executives.
Learn more about what Patient Safety Centre is doing about Open Disclosure
OD & The Queensland Approach 6 Steps of Formal OD OD Reference
OD Resources & Promotional Material OD Forms (For Qld Health Staff)
OD Consultant List OD Discussion Group (For Qld Health Staff) OD Training Dates 2009
OD Training Dates 2010 OD Published Articles Contact Us
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