title: Self-reported medical, medication and laboratory error in eight countries: risk factors for chronically ill adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify risk factors associated with self-reported medical, medication and laboratory error in eight countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Commonwealth Fund's 2008 International Health Policy Survey of chronically ill patients in eight countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  METHODS
  A multi-country telephone survey was conducted between 3 March and 30 May 2008 with patients in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the USA who self-reported being chronically ill.
  
  
  METHODS
  A bivariate analysis was performed to determine significant explanatory variables of medical, medication and laboratory error (P < 0.01) for inclusion in a binary logistic regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final regression model included eight risk factors for self-reported error: age 65 and under, education level of some college or less, presence of two or more chronic conditions, high prescription drug use (four+ drugs), four or more doctors seen within 2 years, a care coordination problem, poor doctor-patient communication and use of an emergency department.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Risk factors with the greatest ability to predict experiencing an error encompassed issues with coordination of care and provider knowledge of a patient's medical history. The identification of these risk factors could help policymakers and organizations to proactively reduce the likelihood of error through greater examination of system- and organization-level practices.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, 5968 College Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3J5, Canada. andrea.scobie@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scobie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult