Measuring harm in health care: optimizing adverse event review.

Kathleen E. Walsh; Polina Harik; Kathleen M. Mazor; Deborah Perfetto; Milena Anatchkova; Colleen Biggins; Joann Wagner; Pamela J. Schoettker; Cassandra Firneno; Robert Klugman; Jennifer Tjia

Study

Measuring harm in health care: optimizing adverse event review.

May 3, 2017

Walsh KE, Harik P, Mazor KM, et al. Med Care. 2017;55(4):436-441.

View more articles from the same authors.

Determining the severity of harm or potential harm is a challenge in patient safety. Investigators asked physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to rate the severity of harm for specific adverse events including falls, health care–associated infections, pressure ulcers, and blood product errors. The authors recommend using two raters to determine harm in order to achieve reliable estimates.

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