Patient Safety Training Simulations Based on Competency Criteria of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

Critically ill patients require high-intensity care and may be at especially high risk of iatrogenic injury because they are severely ill. We sought to study the incidence and nature of adverse events and serious errors in the critical care setting. We conducted a prospective 1-year observational study. Incidents were collected with use of a multifaceted approach including direct continuous observation. Two physicians independently assessed incident type, severity, and preventability as well as systems-related and individual performance failures. Academic, tertiary-care urban hospital. Medical intensive care unit and coronary care unit patients. None. The primary outcomes of interest were the incidence and rates of adverse events and serious errors per 1000 patient-days. A total of 391 patients with 420 unit admissions were studied during 1490 patient-days. We found 120 adverse events in 79 patients (20.2%), including 66 (55%) nonpreventable and 54 (45%) preventable adverse events as well as 223 serious errors. The rates per 1000 patient-days for all adverse events, preventable adverse events, and serious errors were 80.5, 36.2, and 149.7, respectively. Among adverse events, 13% (16/120) were life-threatening or fatal; and among serious errors, 11% (24/223) were potentially life-threatening. Most serious medical errors occurred during the ordering or execution of treatments, especially medications (61%; 170/277). Performance level failures were most commonly slips and lapses (53%; 148/277), rather than rule-based or knowledge-based mistakes. Adverse events and serious errors involving critically ill patients were common and often potentially life-threatening. Although many types of errors were identified, failure to carry out intended treatment correctly was the leading category.

While the outcome of in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest has been studied extensively, the clinical antecedents of arrest are less well defined. We studied a group of consecutive general hospital ward patients developing cardiopulmonary arrest. Prospectively determined definitions of underlying pathophysiology, severity of underlying disease, patient complaints, and clinical observations were used to determine common clinical features. Sixty-four patients arrested 161 +/- 26 hours following hospital admission. Pathophysiologic alterations preceding arrest were classified as respiratory in 24 patients (38 percent), metabolic in 7 (11 percent), cardiac in 6 (9 percent), neurologic in 4 (6 percent), multiple in 17 (27 percent), and unclassified in 6 (9 percent). Patients with multiple disturbances had mainly respiratory (39 percent) and metabolic (44 percent) disorders. Fifty-four patients (84 percent) had documented observations of clinical deterioration or new complaints within eight hours of arrest. Seventy percent of all patients had either deterioration of respiratory or mental function observed during this time. Routine laboratory tests obtained before arrest showed no consistent abnormalities, but vital signs showed a mean respiratory rate of 29 +/- 1 breaths per minute. The prognoses of patients' underlying diseases were classified as ultimately fatal in 26 (41 percent), nonfatal in 23 (36 percent), and rapidly fatal in 15 (23 percent). Five patients (8 percent) survived to hospital discharge. Patients developing arrest on the general hospital ward services have predominantly respiratory and metabolic derangements immediately preceding their arrests. Their underlying diseases are generally not rapidly fatal. Arrest is frequently preceded by a clinical deterioration involving either respiratory or mental function. These features and the high mortality associated with arrest suggest that efforts to predict and prevent arrest might prove beneficial.