Descriptive Epidemiology of Safety Events at an Academic Medical Center

Alexandre R. Marra, Abdullah Algwizani, Mohammed Alzunitan, Theresa M. H. Brennan and Michael B. Edmond
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Alexandre R. Marra: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Abdullah Algwizani: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Mohammed Alzunitan: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Theresa M. H. Brennan: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Michael B. Edmond: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Background : Adverse safety events in healthcare are of great concern, and despite an increasing focus on the prevention of error and harm mitigation, the epidemiology of safety events remains incomplete. Methods : We performed an analysis of all reported safety events in an academic medical center using a voluntary incident reporting surveillance system for patient safety. Safety events were classified as: serious (reached the patient and resulted in moderate to severe harm or death); precursor (reached the patient and resulted in minimal or no detectable harm); and near miss (did not reach the patient). Results : During a three-year period, there were 31,817 events reported. Most of the safety events were precursor safety events (reached the patient and resulted in minimal harm or no detectable harm), corresponding to 77.3%. Near misses accounted for 10.8%, and unsafe conditions for 11.8%. The number of reported serious safety events was low, accounting for only 0.1% of all safety events. Conclusions : The reports analysis of these events should lead to a better understanding of risks in patient care and ways to mitigate it.

Keywords: patient safety; safety events; epidemiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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