Table 3.
Number and incidence of preventable adverse events among patients discharged from hospitals in Utah and Colorado in 1992 by type of event and age group*
| Event type | Patients aged 16-64 years
|
Patients aged ⩾65 years
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of events | Incidence (% (SE)) | No of events | Incidence (% (SE)) | ||
| Diagnostic | 697 | 0.22 (0.05) | 379 | 0.27 (0.09) | |
| Operative: | 2411 | 0.76 (0.10) | 1383 | 0.99 (0.17) | |
| Technical | 1341 | 0.42 (0.07) | 327 | 0.23 (0.09) | |
| Bleeding | 643 | 0.20 (0.05) | 542 | 0.39 (0.11) | |
| Wound infection | 79 | 0.02 (0.02) | 0 | ||
| Non-wound infection | 78 | 0.02 (0.02) | 157 | 0.11 (0.07) | |
| Other wound problem | 101 | 0.03 (0.03) | 33 | 0.02 (0.05) | |
| Other technical problem | 0 | 20 | 0.01 (0.06) | ||
| Pulmonary embolism | 0 | 43 | 0.03 (0.05) | ||
| Cerebrovascular accident | 0 | 0 | |||
| Congestive heart failure | 0 | 54 | 0.04 (0.05) | ||
| Deep vein thrombosis | 75 | 0.02 (0.02) | 0 | ||
| Acute myocardial infarction | 0 | 0 | |||
| Pneumonia | 0 | 37 | 0.03 (0.05) | ||
| Other non-technical | 52 | 0.02 (0.02) | 90 | 0.06 (0.06) | |
| Missing | 43 | 0.01 (0.02) | 80 | 0.06 (0.05) | |
| Fractures | 23 | 0.01 (0.02) | 0 | ||
| Anaesthesia | 101 | 0.03 (0.03) | 0 | ||
| Post partum | 341 | 0.11 (0.04) | 0 | ||
| Neonatal | 44 | 0.01 (0.02) | 0 | ||
| Medical procedure | 421 | 0.13 (0.04) | 963 | 0.69 (0.14)† | |
| Drug | 543 | 0.17 (0.05) | 889 | 0.63 (0.14)† | |
| Therapeutic | 284 | 0.09 (0.04) | 280 | 0.10 (0.06) | |
| Fall | 20 | 0.01 (0.02) | 136 | 0.10 (0.06)† | |
| Other | 154 | 0.05 (0.03) | 103 | 0.07 (0.06) | |
*
Results from random sample of 15 000 patient records extrapolated to represent all hospital discharges in Utah and Colorado in 1992.
†
Significantly higher than incidence in younger patients (P<0.05).