A Laboratory Critical Incident and Error Reporting System for Experimental Biomedicine

Ulrich Dirnagl; Ingo Przesdzing; Claudia Kurreck; Sebastian Major

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000705

A Laboratory Critical Incident and Error Reporting System for Experimental Biomedicine

PLoS Biol. 2016 Dec 1;14(12):e2000705. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2000705. eCollection 2016 Dec.

Authors

Ulrich Dirnagl^{1

2

3

4

5}, Ingo Przesdzing¹, Claudia Kurreck¹, Sebastian Major¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Experimental Neurology and Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
² German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.
³ German Center for Cardiovasular Diseases (DZHK), Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Excellence Cluster NeuroCure, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract

We here propose the implementation of a simple and effective method to enhance the quality of basic and preclinical academic research: critical incident reporting (CIR). CIR has become a standard in clinical medicine but to our knowledge has never been implemented in the context of academic basic research. We provide a simple, free, open-source software tool for implementing a CIR system in research groups, laboratories, or large institutions (LabCIRS). LabCIRS was developed, tested, and implemented in our multidisciplinary and multiprofessional neuroscience research department. It is accepted by all members of the department, has led to the emergence of a mature error culture, and has made the laboratory a safer and more communicative environment. Initial concerns that implementation of such a measure might lead to a "surveillance culture" that would stifle scientific creativity turned out to be unfounded.

MeSH terms

Humans
Laboratories*
Organizational Culture
Risk Management*

Grants and funding

Herman and Lilly Schilling Foundation (grant number). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant number Exc 257). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Berlin Institute of Health (grant number). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie (grant number 01 EO 08 01). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.