Analysis of Risk Factors for Patient Safety Events Occurring in the Emergency Department

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe and analyze the risk factors associated with patient safety events (PSEs), defined as adverse events (AEs), preventable AEs (PAEs), and near-miss events (NMEs), in the emergency department (ED). Methods:It was a retrospective cohort study using ED patients' data retrieved from January 2010 to December 2016. Quality assurance issues (QAIs) used as triggers included the following: issues during procedural sedation, death within 24 hours of admission, patients' and physicians' complaints, returns to the ED within 72 hours, and transfers to an intensive care unit within 24 hours.Results: Of 383,586 ED visits, 6519 (1.7%) QAIs were reported with a PSEs incidence of 6.1%. Among the 397 PSEs, 258 were AEs including 82 PAEs, and 139 NMEs. During the 7-year period, we observed a fourfold increase in NMEs, and despite a decrease in the rate of AEs with the highest (3.1%) and lowest (0.8%) incidence in 2011 and 2016, respectively, the incidence of PAEs events remained relatively constant. Unadjusted analysis showed that ED waiting time, boarding time, ED length of stay (LOS), ED disposition, as well as diagnostic and QAIs were significantly related to PSEs (P < 0.05). Multivariable analysis showed that the type of QAIs and diagnostic were associated with PSEs (P < 0.001). Type of QAIs was a risk factor for AEs and PAEs occurrence and factors involved in NMEs were type of QAIs (P = 0.02) and ED LOS (P < 0.001). "The odds of a PSE occurring increased by 0.2% for each additional minute increase in the ED waiting time, by 5.2% for each additional boarding hour, and by 4.5% for each ED LOS hour." Conclusions: This study showed several potential risk factors for PSEs, especially ED LOS, type of QAIs, and diagnostic. Systematic interventions might have more impact on risk of PSE.

Emergency Department Overcrowding: Understanding the Factors to Find Corresponding Solutions

“…A containment of LOS times and an improvement in the outcome of some categories of patients was observed as well [81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88]. These findings were in line with data from several other European and American research groups [89][90][91][92][93][94].…”

Assessment of patient safety culture in two emergency departments in Australia: a cross sectional study

“…The ED represents the principal entrance into the hospital healthcare delivery system. Healthcare in the ED has a unique nature, complexity and urgency (Alsabri et al, 2022b). The performance of the ED plays a critical role in decreasing mortality rates and protecting public health, and in public satisfaction with medical services in general (Trzeciak and Rivers, 2003).…”

Assessment of Patient Safety Culture in a Pediatric Department

“…This is crucial as poor staffing/understaffing has been implicated in poor and adverse patient outcomes by a multitude of studies, so it is not surprising that hospitals have the consistent perception of poor staffing negatively affecting patient safety. It of course follows that with improved staffing, patient safety would congruently improve [24][25][26].…”

“…This is possibly attributable to the fact that studies have shown that punitive responses to errors are the main obstacle for disclosure of errors once they are identified [ 1 - 24 ]; a possible remedy to which is to establish a just culture [ 24 ] that recognizes errors as system failures rather than individual failures and encourages the staff to report events without fear of blame is essential for better error identification and continuous improvements. Patient safety improvements can only occur in learning organizations where preventive measures are taken after adverse events and near misses are identified, reported, and analyzed [ 25 ]. Therefore, under-reporting of events can hinder organizational improvement specifically regarding patient safety.…”