OBJECTIVES To examine the feasibility of detecting adverse events through record review in British hospitals and to make preliminary estimates of the incidence and costs of adverse events. DESIGN Retrospective review of 1014 medical and nursing records. SETTING Two acute hospitals in Greater London area. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Number of adverse events. RESULTS 110 (10.8%) patients experie...

Despite increased advocacy for patient safety and several large-scale programs designed to reduce preventable harm, most notably surgical checklists, recent data evaluating entire health systems suggests that we are no further ahead in improving patient safety and that hospital complications are no less frequent now than in the 1990s. We suggest that the failure to systematically measure patien...

Although prescribing errors are one of the most common causes of preventable iatrogenic injury, there have been relatively few studies of their incidence and causes. The majority of the studies that have been carried out have been based in secondary care. This paper reviews what is currently known about prescribing errors. It is suggested that prescribing errors occur in at least 1-2% of all me...

To advance the goal of Getting to Zero and eliminating preventable harm, ASHRM is providing guidance for defining, investigating, and measuring serious safety events. The first step in this process is the recommendation for a common and standardized definition. A common definition for a serious safety event facilitates timely detection, rapid action, and future prevention. This paper outlines t...

Hospitalization of nursing home residents is costly and potentially exposes residents to iatrogenic disease and psychological harm. This article critically reviews the association between the decision to hospitalize and factors related to the residents' welfare and preferences, the providers' attitudes, and the financial implications of hospitalization. Regarding the resident's welfare, factors...

BACKGROUND The ability to cure hepatitis C viral infection, with specific reference to the prisoner population and the prison environment, will be challenged, even if opiate replacement therapy is concurrently offered, and even if bleach is available. The missing elements, widely available in the community, are a regulated injecting equipment exchange and tattooing parlours. CASE PRESENTATION...

n engl j med 367;21 nejm.org november 22, 2012 1974 to strengthen the planning of the postauthorization phase and reduce preventable harm. Once a product is on the market, new safety signals may emerge. Spontaneous reports of adverse reactions can be used to identify patterns of drug–drug and drug–disease interactions that were not apparent before authorization. Collection of data from all poss...

As more countries adopt laws and regulations concerning euthanasia, pediatric euthanasia has become an important topic of discussion. Conceptions of what constitutes harm to patients are fluid and highly dependent on a myriad of factors including, but not limited to, health care ethics, family values, and cultural context. Euthanasia could be viewed as iatrogenic insofar as it results in an out...

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development represents a crucial opportunity to place environmental health at the forefront of the sustainable development agenda. Billions of people living in low- and middle-income countries continue to be afflicted by preventable diseases due to modifiable environmental exposures, causing needless suffering and perpetuating a cycle of pover...

Poor handover between doctors is a recognised cause of error in hospitals.[1] Watford General Hospital is a busy acute trust in southern England, where high admission rates necessitate timely patient transfers from the acute admissions unit (AAU) to the medical wards. We found that doctors were infrequently informed of patient transfers, and they rarely handed over patient care when a patient w...