RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To establish the incidence of adverse events (AEs) and incidence of patients with AEs in the University Hospital Complex of Albacete (CHUA); to identify and define the AEs which are linked to health care; to analyse avoidable AE and determine their impact; to plan improvement actions. METHOD: . DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SAMPLE: Patients registered from 5 November to 19 November, 2007. CASE DEFINITION: Any accident or incident reported in the medical record which injured or may have injured the patient. MATERIAL: Adverse Events Screening Guide, adapted from the Harvard study. Spanish version of the Modular Review Form (MRF2) for retrospective case record review. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Univariate and bivariate analysis and logistic regression model. RESULTS: The incidence of patients with AEs linked to hospital care was 6.8%. The incidence was significantly different depending on: age, presence of intrinsic or extrinsic risk factors (excluding peripheral venous catheter); 8.2% of AE was linked to care; 14.3% to medication; 26.5% to nosocomial infections; 35.7% to technical problems in procedures; 11.2% to diagnosis, and the remaining 4.1% to other types of AEs. In these incidences, 12.2% were considered mild, 78.6% moderate and 8.2% serious. Half (50%) of AEs caused an increase in hospital stay, and in 34.7% cases determined hospitalisation. A total of 63.3% of AEs were considered avoidable. CONCLUSIONS: The study of AEs in the CHUA represents an improvement within the hospital quality program. Incidences of patients with AEs and those related to health care fall within the range of those found in the studies where the objective was quality improvement.