Profession
Researchers see trouble at ICUs
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 19, 2005
Nearly one out of 10 patients admitted to hospital critical care units experiences a preventable adverse event, according to a study published in the August Critical Care Medicine.
More than 20% of the nearly 400 patients studied during nine three-week periods between July 2002 and June 2003 experienced an adverse event.
Of those events, 45% were preventable, according to the article authored by Jeffrey M. Rothschild, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The most common error was giving patients the wrong dose of medicine. More than 90% of all errors occurred during routine care, not at admission or in an emergency, the study showed.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/09/19/prbf0919.htm.
