Objectives: To assess the frequency of adverse events (AE) in an intensive care unit (ICU), to detect where they occur, to grade the confidence that an AE is due to medical management and if it is avoidable, to assess their consequences and to determine which patient factors are associated with AE.
Material and method: We performed a prospective cohort study from October 2005 to May 2006 in the adult ICU at Hospital Universitario, Salamanca. Each day a physician reviewed all patients' medical records. The patient general information, AE screening and AE analysis forms were filled out. An AE was defined as an unintentional injury or complication that results in disability at the time of discharge, death or prolonged ICU stay, that is caused by health care management and that is written in the medical record.
Results: Of the 160 admissions studied, 33 (20.63%) were identified as having 37 AE as the primary reason for admission to the unit. 72 AE were identified during ICU stay (45 AE each 100 admissions). Nosocomial infection was the main AE (64.9% and 47.2% respectively); 13.5% AE as the primary reason for admission to the unit and 9.7% AE identified during ICU stay were evaluated as strongly avoidable. These AE lead to an increase in ICU stay and were caused mainly in operating theatre. The major patient factors associated with AE were overweight (relative risk [RR]=6.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-34.2) and diabetes mellitus (RR=5.94; 95% CI, 2.2-15.9).
Conclusions: The frequency of AE in our ICU is within the range reported in the literature. Few AE were evaluated as strongly avoidable; these events indicate opportunities for improvement. ICU can be used as AE observation unit, since as well as causing them, it receives AE caused by other units.
Copyright © 2008 Sociedad Española de Calidad Asistencial. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.