Information gaps across care interfaces in home care and patient safety incidents: a cross-sectional survey of home care professionals in Finland
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- 2Department of Geriatrics, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
- 3Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- 4Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the occurrence and severity of information gaps across care interfaces in home care networks and to identify priority interfaces for improving information continuity and patient safety.
Design: Cross-sectional survey study.
Setting: Four publicly funded home care organisations in Finland, covering approximately 22% of Finland’s long-term home care clients nationally.
Participants: 555 home care professionals engaged in direct client care, including practical nurses, registered nurses, physicians and physiotherapists.
Primary outcome measures: Frequency of information gaps across 11 predefined care interfaces (reported as always, often, sometimes, seldom or never) and severity of associated patient safety incidents (near miss, minor/moderate or severe) in the past 3 months, reported by the participants based on their experience.
Results: The number of professionals working across the analysed interfaces ranged from 326 to 441. Information gaps were reported across all 11 interfaces, with those occurring always or often most frequently associated with emergency departments (21.5%), hospital discharge (19.1%) and private health centre (16.9%). Patient safety incidents were identified across all interfaces, particularly in relation to hospital discharge (44.1%) and emergency department (40.4%). Severe adverse events were most frequently reported in emergency care (4.3%), informal care (3.7%) and hospital discharge (3.4%), indicating variation in both occurrence and severity across interfaces.
Conclusions: Information gaps and related patient safety incidents may concentrate at time-critical transitions but extend across the wider care network including informal care. These findings highlight system-level vulnerabilities and the need to prioritise safety-critical interfaces and strengthen information continuity in home care.
Related
- Data Collection Methods, Training, and Perceived Health Information Quality Among Professionals in Three Ghanaian Hospitals: A Cross‐Sectional Study
- Assessing Patient Safety Culture Among Doctors, Nurses, and Allied Health Professionals Using the Indian Version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (I-HSOPSC 2.0): A Cross-Sectional Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India
- Incidence and Characteristics of Adverse Events: The 2024 Patient Safety Incidents Inquiry in Korea
- Patient-Perceived and Record-Based Concordance of AI-Generated Perioperative Information After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Cross-Sectional Study with Multidisciplinary Review
- The design of an orthodontic patient information leaflet: a cross-sectional, mixed methods study involving surveys, a knowledge test and eye-tracking
BibTeX
@article{sylgren2026information,
title = {{Information gaps across care interfaces in home care and patient safety incidents: a cross-sectional survey of home care professionals in Finland}},
author = {Inka Sylgren and Esa Jämsen and Paulus Torkki},
journal = {BMJ Open},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121950},
url = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121950},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Information gaps across care interfaces in home care and patient safety incidents: a cross-sectional survey of home care professionals in Finland
AU - Inka Sylgren
AU - Esa Jämsen
AU - Paulus Torkki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - BMJ Open
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121950
UR - https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121950
AB - Objectives: To examine the occurrence and severity of information gaps across care interfaces in home care networks and to identify priority interfaces for improving information continuity and patient safety. Design: Cross-sectional survey study. Setting: Four publicly funded home care organisations in Finland, covering approximately 22% of Finland’s long-term home care clients nationally. Participants: 555 home care professionals engaged in direct client care, including practical nurses, registered nurses, physicians and physiotherapists. Primary outcome measures: Frequency of information gaps across 11 predefined care interfaces (reported as always, often, sometimes, seldom or never) and severity of associated patient safety incidents (near miss, minor/moderate or severe) in the past 3 months, reported by the participants based on their experience. Results: The number of professionals working across the analysed interfaces ranged from 326 to 441. Information gaps were reported across all 11 interfaces, with those occurring always or often most frequently associated with emergency departments (21.5%), hospital discharge (19.1%) and private health centre (16.9%). Patient safety incidents were identified across all interfaces, particularly in relation to hospital discharge (44.1%) and emergency department (40.4%). Severe adverse events were most frequently reported in emergency care (4.3%), informal care (3.7%) and hospital discharge (3.4%), indicating variation in both occurrence and severity across interfaces. Conclusions: Information gaps and related patient safety incidents may concentrate at time-critical transitions but extend across the wider care network including informal care. These findings highlight system-level vulnerabilities and the need to prioritise safety-critical interfaces and strengthen information continuity in home care.
SN - 2044-6055
SN - 2044-6055
ER -