Patient reports of undesirable events during hospitalization.
BACKGROUND
Thus far, incident reporting in health care has relied on health professionals. However, patients too may be able to signal the occurrence of undesirable events.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the frequency of undesirable events reported by recently discharged patients, and to identify correlates of undesirable events.


METHODS
Mailed patient survey.


METHODS
Swiss public teaching hospital.


METHODS
Adult patients (N=1,518) discharged from hospital.


METHODS
Self-reports of 27 undesirable events during hospitalization, including 9 medical complications, 9 interpersonal problems, and 9 incidents related to the health care process.


RESULTS
Most survey respondents (1,433, 94.4%) completed the section about undesirable events, and 725 (50.6%) reported at least 1 event. The most frequent events were phlebitis (11.0%), unavailable medical record (9.5%), failure to respect confidentiality (8.4%), and hospital-acquired infection (8.2%). The odds of an unfavorable rating increased with each additional interpersonal problem (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3 to 1.8), each additional process-related problem (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3 to 1.9), but not with each additional medical complication (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.9 to 1.2). Longer duration of stay, poor health, and depressed mood were all related to a greater reported frequency of undesirable events.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients are able to report undesirable events that occur during hospital care. Such events occur in about a half of the hospitalizations, and have a negative impact on satisfaction with care.
Agoritsas
Thomas
T
Quality of Care Service, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
Bovier
Patrick A
PA
Perneger
Thomas V
TV
D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012308:Risk Management