Patient Safety
| Number of Americans that die each year from medical errors (1999 est.)................................................ |
44,000-98,00065 |
| Number of Americans that die in the hospital each year due to 18 types of medical injuries (2000 est.)..... |
at least 32,00066 |
| Rate of adverse drug reactions in hospital admissions.......................................................................... |
2.0%-6.7%67, 68, 69, 70 |
| Rate of adverse drug events among Medicare beneficiaries in ambulatory settings.................................. |
50 per 1,000 person-years |
| Percentage of serious, life-threatening, or fatal events deemed preventable............................................ |
40% |
| Cost (in lost income, disability, and health care costs) attributable to medical errors (1999 est.).............. |
$29 billion65 |
| Groups with higher rates of some safety events................................................................................... |
racial minorities71, 72 |
This section highlights six measures of patient safety in three areas: nosocomial infections, postoperative complications and other adverse events, and inappropriate medication use by the elderly. (For findings related to all core report measures of patient safety, see Table 2.2a.)
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