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. 2004 Aug;13(4):255–259. doi: 10.1136/qshc.2003.009324

Use of medical emergency team (MET) responses to detect medical errors

R Braithwaite 1, M DeVita 1, R Mahidhara 1, R Simmons 1, S Stuart 1, M Foraida 1
PMCID: PMC1743873  PMID: 15289627

Abstract

Background: No previous studies have investigated whether medical emergency team (MET) responses can be used to detect medical errors.

Objectives: To determine whether review of MET responses can be used as a surveillance method for detecting medical errors.

Methods: : Charts of all patients receiving MET responses during an 8 month period were reviewed by a hospital based Quality Improvement Committee to establish if the clinical deterioration that prompted the MET response was associated with a medical error (defined as an adverse event that was preventable with the current state of medical knowledge). Medical errors were categorized as diagnostic, treatment, or preventive errors using a descriptive typology based on previous published reports.

Results: Three hundred and sixty four consecutive MET responses underwent chart review and 114 (31.3%) were associated with medical errors: 77 (67.5%) were categorized as diagnostic errors, 68 (59.6%) as treatment errors, and 30 (26.3%) as prevention errors. Eighteen separate hospital care processes were identified and modified as a result of this review, 10 of which involved standardization.

Conclusions: MET review may be used for surveillance to detect medical errors and to identify and modify processes of care that underlie those errors.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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