Ethical, legal, and information management aspects in the context of patient safety

Abstract

Health systems around the world currently generate diverse health data related to their patients; their potential for use in the routine of health professionals is recognized; however, at the same time, patient safety is also widely discussed since, over the years, the patient's electronic medical record absorbs sensitive information, accumulated over time. In this sense, this study aimed to address ethical, legal, and information management aspects in the context of patient safety. This is a scoping review, conducted based on the methodological structure developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute and the checklist Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews, set in five stages: 1) identification of the research question, 2) bibliographic survey to search for relevant studies, 3) selection of studies, according to the criteria defined in this review, 4) data mapping and 5) presentation of results. The results showed that a) the articles, in general, pay much attention to patient safety, both in terms of data and also in terms of health; b) International patient safety goals were created to standardize care in private and public hospitals, c) The articles address patient safety by international patient safety goals and d) information leakage is becoming increasingly common, and actions are needed to minimize these situations. The conclusion shows that there is a lack of objective studies regarding the use of information technology in patient safety and that, due to the importance of these topics, both in public health and economic issues, more studies are necessary for an effective implementation that can generate practical results to patients and the country's healthcare system.