Evaluating Patient Safety Risks in Pediatric Primary Care Settings

In a U.K. study, the most-harmful events were attributed to errors in diagnosis and assessment, treatment and procedures, referrals, and medications.

Patient safety is a foremost objective in healthcare; however, most studies to date focus on inpatient safety. Using data from a U.K. registry of reported patient safety incidents, investigators assessed the frequency and distribution of incident types in 1788 reports involving children receiving outpatient primary care. Results were as follows:

Patient safety events were classified by severity of harm as no harm (57.3%), low harm (37.8%), moderate harm (4.0%), severe harm (0.5%), and death (0.4%).
The four most-harmful (resulting in severe harm or death) types of safety events were those related to diagnosis and assessment, treatment and procedures, referrals, and medications.
The most-frequent underlying causes of safety events included inac…

Reviewing Author

F. Bruder Stapleton, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardCareer Physician

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Pediatric Nephrology Foundation (Chair)

F. Bruder Stapleton, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardCareer Physician

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Pediatric Nephrology Foundation (Chair)

Evaluating Patient Safety Risks in Pediatric Primary Care Settings

Topics

Reviewing Author