Global Trigger Tool
Patient Safety
Definition. The Global Trigger Tool is a structured method for detecting adverse events by reviewing samples of patient records for predefined clues, or triggers, that suggest harm may have occurred.
Explanation
Developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, it uses triggers such as antidote use or unplanned readmission, followed by physician confirmation of harm. Applications in Turkish hospitals showed that it is feasible and detects adverse events that routine systems miss (Kurutkan et al., 2015). A university hospital study found that it identified many more events than voluntary reporting (Ekici et al., 2024).
The tool measures harm rates over time rather than individual errors, which makes it useful for monitoring safety at organisational level.
Related concepts
Adverse event Incident reporting system Medication error Patient safety culture
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References
Ekici, Z., Kurutkan, M. N., & Ekici, M. A. (2024). Application of Global Trigger Tools in University Hospital and Comparison to Volunteer Adverse Events Reporting System. Clin. Lab., 70 (2), XXX-XXX. https://doi.org/10.7754/Clin.Lab.2023.230641
Kurutkan, M. N., Usta, E., Orhan, F., & Simsekler, M. C. E. (2015). Application of the IHI Global Trigger Tool in measuring the adverse event rate in a Turkish healthcare setting. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 27(1), 11–21.
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Global Trigger Tool. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/global-trigger-tool/