Safety is the first part of quality

  Safety is the first part of quality 

the healthcare system must guarantee that it will deliver safe care. Improving safety and quality in healthcare relies on understanding the frequency and type of adverse events that are occurring in the healthcare system. An adverse event is defined as an injury caused by medical management rather than the underlying disease of the patient. One of the largest studies that attempted to quantify adverse events in hospitalized patients was the Harvard Medical Practice Study. In this study, the most common adverse events were adverse drug events, which occurred in 19% of hospitalizations. Other common adverse events included wound infections (14%) and technical complications of a procedure (13%). Among nonoperative events, 37% were adverse drug events, 15% were diagnostic mishaps, 14% were therapeutic mishaps, and 5% were falls.