From: The nature and causes of unintended events reported at ten emergency departments
Characteristic unintended event | No. of unintended events (%) |
---|---|
Time (N = 522) | Â |
   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) | Â |
   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) | Â |
   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) |