Conclusions from the analysis of adverse events in the Polish health care system in judicial decisions of civil courts between 2011 and 2013

Hospital Inpatient Falls across Clinical Departments

“…Our results are consistent with findings of Healey et al, who reported rates of falls per 1000 bed days between 2.1 and 8.4, depending on the hospital profile, and significantly lower than fall rates presented by Schwendimann and colleagues, who showed that 7.2% of hospitalized patients experienced falls [16,22]. Similarly to our findings, they reported significant differences in characteristics of fallers and circumstances of falls; however, they investigated internal medicine, surgical and geriatric departments [22,23]. These significant differences considered patients' age, length of hospital stay as well as comorbidities and the circumstances of falls.…”

“…Improperly, an adverse event is often considered as a synonym for "medical error," "medical malpractice," or "treatment failure." However, the term "adverse event" also comprises treatment failures not directly caused by a healthcare provider, and not only by human medical errors [23]. Therefore, depenalization of unintended adverse effects, including inpatient falls, should be strongly considered.…”

“…The goal of medical adverse event recording and reporting systems is primarily to identify possible risk factors in order to improve patients' safety. Along with depenalization of unintended medical adverse events, a public insurance system should be established to cover justified patients' claims [23,24].…”