Causes of serious adverse events in nursing homes identified

Causes of serious adverse events in nursing homes identified

(HealthDay)—Most serious adverse events in nursing homes are caused by medication errors, falls, delayed or inappropriate interventions, and missed nursing care, according to a study published online June 15 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Åsa Andersson, R.N., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study involving 173 adverse events in . They analyzed the reports of adverse events with content analysis and described the frequencies of the adverse events and their contributing factors.

The researchers found that the majority of serious adverse events (89 percent) were caused by , falls, delayed or inappropriate intervention, and missed nursing care. They identified a total of 693 putative contributing factors; the most common were lack of competence, incomplete or lack of documentation, teamwork failure, and insufficient communication.

"The contributing factors frequently interacted yet they varied between different groups of serious ," the authors write. "The resident's safety depends on the availability of staff's competence as well as adequate documentation about the resident's condition. Lack of competence was underestimated by health care providers."

More information: Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Journal information: Journal of Clinical Nursing

Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Citation: Causes of serious adverse events in nursing homes identified (2017, June 21) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-06-adverse-events-nursing-homes.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

What impact do medication errors have on nursing home residents?

3 shares

Feedback to editors