INTRODUCTION Patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk for prescribing errors and related adverse drug events (ADEs). An effective intervention to decrease this risk, based on studies conducted mainly in North America, is on-ward participation of a clinical pharmacist in an ICU team. As the Dutch Healthcare System is organized differently and the on-ward role of hospita...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Despite the benefits of rapidly advancing therapeutic and diagnostic possibilities, the perioperative setting still exposes patients to significant risks of adverse events and harm. Anesthesiologists are in midstream of perioperative care and can make significant contributions to patient safety and patient outcomes. This article reviews recent research results outlining the cu...

The actions of pregnant women can cause harm to their future children. However, even if the possible harm is serious and likely to occur, the law will generally not intervene. A pregnant woman is an autonomous person who is entitled to make her own decisions. A fetus in-utero has no legal right to protection. In striking contrast, the child, if born alive, may sue for injury in-utero; and the c...

BACKGROUND If multiple medical specialties are involved in treatment there is a danger of increasing risks to patient safety. This is due to the need for greater co-ordination and communication with other specialties, less emergency cover for individual sub-specialties, and a drop in general care and the overview of care. This study aims to determine if the number of medical specialties treatin...

OBJECTIVES To describe the implementation of a trigger tool in Sweden and present the national incidence of adverse events (AEs) over a 4-year period during which an ongoing national patient safety initiative was terminated. DESIGN Cohort study using retrospective record review based on a trigger tool methodology. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Patients ≥18 years admitted to all somatic acute car...

Introduction A recent report for the President of the United States described the impact of preventable medical errors as a “national problem of epidemic proportions”. Similar concerns have been echoed in the report of an expert group chaired by the Chief Medical OYcer. In this report it was estimated that 400 people in the UK die or are seriously injured each year in adverse events involving m...

Syphilis in pregnancy can cause considerable fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. It is endemic in the developing world but it is now resurgent in the developed world. Maternal syphilis can result in fetal infection leading to fetal and neonatal harm. Mid-trimester miscarriages, stillbirths, low birth weight, prematurity, congenital syphilis and neonatal deaths are all the results of syp...

Air embolism is a rarely encountered but much dreaded complication of surgical procedures that can cause serious harm, including death. Cases that involve the use of endovascular techniques have a higher risk of air embolism; therefore, a heightened awareness of this complication is warranted. In particular, central venous catheters and arterial catheters that are often placed and removed in mo...

In response to a weight of evidence that patients are frequently harmed as a result of their care, there have been concerted efforts to make healthcare safer, with health systems across the globe investing significant resources in policies and programmes designed to reduce adverse events. Yet, despite extensive efforts, improvements in safety have proved difficult to sustain and spread, with st...