Fellows of the Australasian Colllege for Emergency Medicine (FACEMs) can claim Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours for time spent reporting incidents. To verify your eligibility to claim CPD hours, please make a note of your time spent and ensure you keep a record of your incident ID number as a reference.

What to include

The notification of incidents into EMER is anonymous and confidential. We request that data that could identify patients, staff or institutions not be included in the report.

Narrative descriptions of the incidents are the richest form of information for finding out what happened. They provide the greatest opportunity to learn about the circumstances leading to the incident, and if, and how, the incident could have been prevented. It is important that you include as much narrative detail as possible so that the incident can be fully and accurately classified.

We are encouraging ED doctors to report incidents frequently. Ideally, the incident should be one in which they are clear on all the details about what happened and why, who was involved, what were the outcomes for the patient and the organisation, what factors contributed to the incident and/or reduced harm to the patient, and how it could be prevented from happening again.