background: understanding the nature and causes of medical adverse events may help their prevention. this system­atic re­view explores the types, risk factors, and likely causes of preventable adverse events in the hospital sector. methods: medline (1970-2008), embase, cinahl (1970-2005) and the reference lists were used to identify the stud­ies and a structured narrative method used to synthes...

BACKGROUND In contrast to other safety critical industries, well-developed systems to monitor safety within the healthcare system remain limited. Retrospective record review is one way of identifying adverse events in healthcare. In proactive patient safety work, retrospective record review could be used to identify, analyze and gain information and knowledge about no-harm incidents and deficie...

OBJECTIVES Based on 1984 data developed from reviews of medical records of patients treated in New York hospitals, the Institute of Medicine estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. The basis of this estimate is nearly 3 decades old; herein, an updated estimate is developed from modern studies published from 2008 to 2011. METHODS A literature review identified ...

Medication constitutes a major clinical intervention that may yield significant benefits for the patients. Yet, it can also cause considerable harm, if inappropriately used/ applied. In the US, adverse drug effects are considered as one of the 10 principal causes of death, which has been estimated to harm at least 1.5 million patients/year, with about 25% of the cases being preventable [1]. Hos...

OBJECTIVE Adverse drug events (ADEs) can cause serious harm to patients and can lead to hospitalization or even death. ADEs are a burden not only to patients and their relatives, but also to society and have the potential to involve high costs. To provide more information on the economic burden of preventable adverse drug events of outpatients, we performed a cost study on the data collected in...

FOUR YEARS AFTER SORREL KING’S DAUGHTER, JOSIE, DIED from preventable medical errors in 2001, King asked us if her daughter would be less likely to die today. We answered by describing the myriad safety programs in hospitals. She abruptly cut us off. King was not interested in what we were doing. She wanted evidence that Josie and other patients were less likely to be harmed by medical care tod...