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. 2009 May;2(2):80-4.
doi: 10.4103/0974-2700.50740.

Medical errors and consequent adverse events in critically ill surgical patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Delhi

Sunil Kumar  1 , Sujata Chaudhary
Affiliations

Medical errors and consequent adverse events in critically ill surgical patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Delhi

Sunil Kumar et al. J Emerg Trauma Shock. 2009 May.

Abstract

Background: Medical errors and adverse events (AE), though common worldwide, have never been studied in India. We believe that though common these are under reported.

Aim: The aim of this study was to study medical errors and consequent AE in patients presenting with trauma and bowel perforation peritonitis.

Methods: Five hundred and eighty-six consecutive patients with trauma or peritonitis, presenting to surgery emergency of UCMS-GTBH, were prospectively studied using review form (RF) 1 and 2. AE was defined as an outcome not expected to be part of the illness. RF 1 was filled for all and indicated if AE was present or not. RF2 was filled when RF 1 indicated presence of AE; it further confirmed the occurrence of AE and pointed to the type of medical error and resultant disability. All results were expressed as percentage.

Results: There were 500 (85%) males. Mean age of the patients was 31 years. There were 332 patients with peritonitis and 254 with trauma. AE and its consequences were present in 185 (31.5%) and 183 (31.2%) patients, respectively. Consequences were as follows: disability - 157 (85%), increased hospital stay and/or increased visits in the OPD - 28 (15.3%) and both-101 (55.2%) patients. Disabilities were: death - 62 (40%), temporary disability - 90 (58%) and permanent disability - 05 (3.1%) patients. AE in 133 (71.8%) patients was definitely (level of confidence 6) due to error in healthcare management. All AE were considered preventable. Error of omission accounted for AE in 122 (65.9%) patients. System and operative errors were the commonest, 84.3% and 82.7%, respectively. One hundred and sixty-seven (90%) patients had multiple errors.

Conclusions: The study proves that medical errors and AE are a serious problem in our set-up and calls for immediate system improvement.

Keywords: Adverse events; medical errors; peritonitis; trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

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