Reporting hospital adverse events using The Alfred Hospital's morbidity data

Abstract

Hospital morbidity data were analysed to determine their usefulness for reporting adverse events.

Medication safety in acute care in Australia: where are we now? Part 1: a review of the extent and causes of medication problems 2002–2008

“…Two new studies, published since 2002 give additional insight into the incidence of medicine-related hospital admissions in Australia [ 3 , 4 ]. One used the hospital morbidity records to determine the incidence of adverse drug reactions, finding 1.3% of admissions were associated with an adverse drug reaction at the time of the admission and that required treatment [ 3 ]. Another 0.3% of admissions had an adverse drug reaction identified at the time of admission, but not treated.…”

“…Another 0.3% of admissions had an adverse drug reaction identified at the time of admission, but not treated. A further 1.2% of admissions were associated with an adverse drug reaction that occurred during hospital stay [ 3 ]. Use of morbidity records alone is likely to under-estimate the incidence of these events as it has been demonstrated that while accurate, the adverse drug reaction codes are under-reported [ 5 ].…”

Adverse events in Victorian admissions for elective surgery

“…In Australia, much research has been and is being undertaken into the establishment and ongoing maintenance of valuable, high quality morbidity data collections. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Considerable efforts are made in Australia to improve data quality through coding education and monitoring of standards. Coded data have underpinned the Victorian casemix-based funding model since its introduction in 1993.…”

Application of AHRQ patient safety indicators to English hospital data

“…The use of administrative data to identify complications was first systematically reviewed by Iezzoni et al 5 6 who reported on the US Complications Screening Program that relied on ICD9 codes to identify potentially preventable in-hospital complications. Despite their relatively poor sensitivity compared with record review, administrative data have been recommended by various groups as an inexpensive method of screening for potential problems with less bias and greater specificity7 than other methods 8 9. The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) therefore developed a set of Patient Safety Indicators, which are evidence-based measures of patient safety designed for use in administrative databases 10.…”