Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 16:42:51 -0500 (EST)
From: "Michael D. Beattie" <imadc@golden.net>
Subject: Hospital Error Rate

Hospital Error Rate Points To Need For "Proactive Error-Prevention"

     WESTPORT, Jan 31 (Reuters) - In observations of the quality of
     patient care on three surgical units, investigators from the
     Universities of Chicago and South Florida identified serious
     adverse events related to inappropriate care in 17.7% of the
     patients treated.

     Dr. Lori B. Andrews of Chicago and colleagues observed the care
     of 1,047 patients during the study. Adverse events were
     identified by healthcare personnel in 480 patients, of which 185
     resulted in serious complications ranging from temporary
     disability to death.

     The risk of an adverse event was related to both length of stay
     and seriousness of underlying illness. The investigators ascribe
     this finding to the idea that longer length of stay and care in
     an ICU "...present more opportunities for an error in care."

     "Our results point out the need for attention to a wide range of
     potential causes of error," Dr. Andrews suggests. She points out
     that about 25% of the errors identified had administrative or=7F
     interactive causes; for the remaining 75%, analysis should be
     ongoing and "...may provide the starting point for proactive
     error-prevention."

     Lancet 1997;349:309-313.