[Surgical injuries registered in the Norwegian system for patient injuries. Possibilities of the use of the material for quality improvement in Norwegian hospitals].
328 surgical "errors" reported to the Norwegian System of Compensation for Injuries to Patients were analysed in order to find out how the errors can be exploited for the purpose of quality improvement. In 8% of the cases the patients had been treated as emergency cases. 7% of the patients had been treated as out-patients. 30% of the patients had become more than 15% permanently disabled as a consequence of the "error". The Norwegian System of Compensation for Injuries to Patients operates with five different categories of errors defined by medical specialty, of which surgery is one. We found that among "surgical errors" 16% of the patients had been treated by an anaesthetist or by a specialist in internal medicine, and 13% had been treated by a gynaecologist. There were several recurring "errors" such as nerve injuries and complications related to general atherosclerosis. A system for categorising errors with a view to quality improvement should be different from other systems of categorisation. We suggest a system based on not only five but all medical specialties. Data from such a system could be used to prepare "pedagogic reports" that can be sent to the managers of services and education in each medical specialty. Thus, by turning surgical errors into "medical treasures", the errors can be exploited to promote quality improvement.
Emblem
R
R
Kirurgisk avdeling B Rikshospitalet, Oslo.
Søreide
O
O
Melsom
H
H
Breivik
E
E
Botten
G
G
D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012042:Registries; D013043:Specialties, Surgical / Q000592:standards