Patterns in medication incidents: A 10-yr experience of a cross-national anaesthesia incident reporting system.

BACKGROUND: Medication-related adverse events (MRE) in anaesthesia care are frequent and require a deeper understanding if we are to prevent medication harm. METHODS: We searched for reported MRE from the Spanish Anaesthesia Incident Reporting System (SENSAR) database over a 10-yr period. SENSAR is a cross-national, multicentre system focused on perioperative and critical care. A descriptive analysis of independent variables, phase of medication process, type of MRE, and medication group involved, and their relationships with morbidity was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 1970 MRE were identified from 7072 reported incidents. Patient harm was reported in 31% of the MRE. The administration phase was more frequent (42%) and showed the highest harm rate (44%) compared with other medication process phases. The most frequent types of MRE were wrong treatment regimen and wrong medication (55% of cases). The medication groups most commonly reported were those that alter haemostasis (18%), vasoconstrictor agents (13%), and opioids (10%). Vasoconstrictor agents, benzodiazepines, and neuromuscular blocking agents were the medication groups involved in patient harm four-fold more, and opioids three-fold more, than medications that alter haemostasis. The 1970 incidents were investigated and led to implementation of 4223 local corrective patient safety and quality improvement measures. CONCLUSIONS: Patient harm in the perioperative setting from medications remains a major issue for patients, hospital leaders, and clinicians. We found patterns and specific causes that can be mitigated through proven systems solutions, and should be taken into consideration in designing sustainable solutions for safe perioperative care. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03615898.

Unplanned surgical reoperations in a tertiary hospital: perioperative mortality and associated risk factors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to estimate the rate of unplanned surgical reoperations in a tertiary hospital and the mortality in reoperated patients and to determine factors associated with risk of mortality in these patients. METHODS: Unplanned surgical reoperations in our hospital were recorded from 1 May 2006 to 31 March 2008. Unplanned reoperation was defined as any surgical procedure required to treat a complication of a prior procedure within the first 30 days of the initial operation. Patients were followed until hospital discharge. RESULTS: Of 11,468 patients who underwent surgery, 381 (3.3%) required reoperation. The main indications for the second or subsequent procedure were postsurgical bleeding (26.3%) and infection (31.2%). Mortality was higher in reoperated patients (21.7 vs. 2.9% in nonreoperated patients, P<0.05). Age, number of reoperations, reoperation of patients before discharge from the postoperative care unit, acute abdomen as the indication for reoperation and reoperation in the thoracic cavity were independently associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: Unplanned reoperations have important implications for patient outcomes and are related to high mortality. Certain patient-related and procedure-related factors increase risk.