1 In 4 Patients Admitted To U.S. Hospitals Are Harmed: The results of a study entitled “The Safety of Inpatient Health Care” published on January 12, 2023 in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded: “Adverse events were identified in nearly one in four admissions, and approximately one fourth of the events were preventable. These findings underscore the importance of patient safety and the need for continuing improvement.”
The researchers conducted “a retrospective cohort study to assess the frequency, preventability, and severity of patient harm in a random sample of admissions from 11 Massachusetts hospitals during the 2018 calendar year. The occurrence of adverse events was assessed with the use of a trigger method (identification of information in a medical record that was previously shown to be associated with adverse events) and from review of medical records. Trained nurses reviewed records and identified admissions with possible adverse events that were then adjudicated by physicians, who confirmed the presence and characteristics of the adverse events.”
The study’s authors analyzed a random sample of 2809 admissions. They identified at least one adverse event in 23.6%. Among 978 adverse events, 222 (22.7%) were judged to be preventable and 316 (32.3%) had a severity level of serious (i.e., caused harm that resulted in substantial intervention or prolonged recovery) or higher.
“A preventable adverse event occurred in 191 (6.8%) of all admissions, and a preventable adverse event with a severity level of serious or higher occurred in 29 (1.0%). There were seven deaths, one of which was deemed to be preventable. Adverse drug events were the most common adverse events (accounting for 39.0% of all events), followed by surgical or other procedural events (30.4%), patient-care events (which were defined as events associated with nursing care, including falls and pressure ulcers) (15.0%), and health care–associated infections (11.9%).”
The study’s lead author, Dr. David Bates, who is the chief of general medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the medical director of clinical and quality analysis for Mass General Brigham in Boston, stated: “These numbers are disappointing, but not shocking. They do show we still have lots of work to do.”
Linda Aiken, a professor and the founding director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at Penn Nursing in Philadelphia, equates patient safety with nurse staffing levels: “Since we’ve been doing research on patient safety, we consistently find that one of the major explanations for poor patient outcomes is insufficient numbers of nurses at the bedside. Having a sufficient number of nurses is a building block for safety.”
The results of a study entitled “The Safety of Inpatient Health Care” published on January 12, 2023 in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded: “Adverse events were identified in nearly one in four admissions, and approximately one fourth of the events were preventable. These findings underscore the importance of patient safety and the need for continuing improvement.”
The researchers conducted “a retrospective cohort study to assess the frequency, preventability, and severity of patient harm in a random sample of admissions from 11 Massachusetts hospitals during the 2018 calendar year. The occurrence of adverse events was assessed with the use of a trigger method (identification of information in a medical record that was previously shown to be associated with adverse events) and from review of medical records. Trained nurses reviewed records and identified admissions with possible adverse events that were then adjudicated by physicians, who confirmed the presence and characteristics of the adverse events.”
The study’s authors analyzed a random sample of 2809 admissions. They identified at least one adverse event in 23.6%. Among 978 adverse events, 222 (22.7%) were judged to be preventable and 316 (32.3%) had a severity level of serious (i.e., caused harm that resulted in substantial intervention or prolonged recovery) or higher.
“A preventable adverse event occurred in 191 (6.8%) of all admissions, and a preventable adverse event with a severity level of serious or higher occurred in 29 (1.0%). There were seven deaths, one of which was deemed to be preventable. Adverse drug events were the most common adverse events (accounting for 39.0% of all events), followed by surgical or other procedural events (30.4%), patient-care events (which were defined as events associated with nursing care, including falls and pressure ulcers) (15.0%), and health care–associated infections (11.9%).”
The study’s lead author, Dr. David Bates, who is the chief of general medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the medical director of clinical and quality analysis for Mass General Brigham in Boston, stated: “These numbers are disappointing, but not shocking. They do show we still have lots of work to do.”
Linda Aiken, a professor and the founding director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at Penn Nursing in Philadelphia, equates patient safety with nurse staffing levels: “Since we’ve been doing research on patient safety, we consistently find that one of the major explanations for poor patient outcomes is insufficient numbers of nurses at the bedside. Having a sufficient number of nurses is a building block for safety.”
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