Surveillance of adverse events in surgical department: An observational study

Abstract

Adverse events (AEs) occur in health care and may result in harm to pati ents especially in the field of surgery. Our objective was to analyze AEs in surgical patient care from a nationwide perspective and to analyze the frequency of AEs that may be preventable. A total 98 patients were identified with AEs during April 2014 and March 2015. All AEs were categorized according to site, type, level of severity, and degree of preventability. We reviewed 532 patients’ records and 98 (18.42%) were associated with AEs. A total of 93.87% of the AEs were considered probably preventable, over half contributed to prolonged hospital care or read-mission, and 4.7% to permanent harm. Healthcare acquired infections composed of more than one third of AEs. The majority of the most serious AEs composed of healthcare acquired infections and surgical or other invasive AEs. The incidence of AEs was 13% in patients 18 to 64 years old and 17% in > 60 years. Drug-related AEs were more common in patients being above 65 years. Urinary retention showed the highest degree of preventability. Patients with probably preventable AEs had in median 7.1 days longer hospital stay.