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Table 2 Clinical characteristics of unintended events

From: The nature and causes of unintended events reported at ten emergency departments

Characteristic unintended event

No. of unintended events (%)

Time (N = 522)

 

   Daytime (7 am to 5 pm)

227 (43.5)

   Evening and night (5 pm to 7 am)

178 (34.1)

   Unknown

117 (22.4)

Phase of care* (N = 522)

 

   Medical examination/tests

186 (36.1)

   ED stay general

84 (16.3)

   Medication

48 (9.3)

   Treatment/intervention

35 (6.8)

   Transfer of patient

33 (6.4)

   Acute situation

26 (5.0)

   Hospitalisation

25 (4.9)

   Discharge

12 (2.3)

   Handover

9 (1.7)

   Triage

6 (1.2)

   Other

84 (16.3)

Consequences for patient (N = 522)

 

   Yes (see 'outcome')

294 (56.3)

   No

211 (40.4)

   Unknown

17 (3.3)

Outcome* (N = 294)†

 

Inconvenience

e.g. long waiting time; high temperature in ED; patient mistakenly sent to another hospital

134 (45.1)

Suboptimal care

e.g. delay in starting antibiotics treatment; no surveillance of sick patient; patient mistakenly sent home

90 (30.3)

Extra intervention

e.g. extra blood withdrawal, unnecessary X-ray

25 (8.4)

Pain

e.g. no pain medication; missed bone fracture; no sling given after stitching of thumb wound.

19 (6.4)

Physical injury

e.g. decubitus ulcer; eyelid glued

10 (3.4)

Mental injury

e.g. wrong patient called back to hospital for positive test result; relatives informed about HIV of patient without patient's consent

6 (2.0)

Longer stay (> 24 hrs)

e.g. admission to a nursing department

2 (0.7)

   Unknown

20 (6.7)

  1. * For a number of unintended events, more than one category was selected.
  2. † Only the groups of patients that experienced consequences of the unintended event.