The Importance of Using Multiple Safety Evaluation Systems in Hospitals: A Comparison of Critical Incident Reporting System (CIRS), Assurance of Quality in Surgery (AQC), and the Global Trigger Tool (GTT)
by Ivan Adamovic, Lukas Kraehenbuehl, Johannes Bachmann
Journal of Patient Safety ():10.1097/PTS.0000000000001479, February 2, 2026. | DOI: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000001479
Background
Accurate detection of adverse events (AEs) and patient harm is fundamental for improving patient safety in hospitals. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the sensitivity of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Global Trigger Tool (GTT) in detecting adverse events compared with the Assurance of Quality in Surgery (AQC) surgical database and the voluntary Critical Incident Reporting System (CIRS) in a Swiss hospital setting. Specifically, we aim to quantify the detection gap between these 3 systems.