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PubMed · 15208233

Identifying and comparing risks in emergency medicine.

M Thomas·R Morton·K Mackway-Jones
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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To identify common risk types occurring in emergency departments (EDs). To compare the risks occurring between different emergency departments. DESIGN: Application of a typology of risks to a database of critical incidents. Comparison of results of applying typology to group of critical incidents collected in a uniform manner in four different EDs. SETTING: EDs in two teaching hospitals and two district general hospitals in the north west of England. INTERVENTIONS: Observational study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Types of critical incidents identified. Statistical comparisons between EDs. RESULTS: 816 critical incidents were classified. Patient assessment omission failures were the commonest type of failure, accounting for 291 (35.6%) of the critical incidents. Level 1 and level 2 failures accounted for 254 (31.1%) of critical incidents. Significant differences (p = 0.009) were shown between EDs when the categories of critical incidents occurring were compared. No significant differences (p = 0.336) were shown between EDs when the levels of severity of critical incidents occurring were compared. CONCLUSIONS: Large numbers of critical incidents with potentially fatal consequences occur. The types of risks differ significantly between different EDs.

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Databases, FactualDiagnostic ErrorsEmergency Service, HospitalEnglandEquipment FailureHumansMedical ErrorsReproducibility of ResultsRisk ManagementSeverity of Illness IndexComparative StudyJournal ArticleMulticenter Study

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M Thomas, R Morton, K Mackway-Jones. 2004. Identifying and comparing risks in emergency medicine.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15208233/

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