Medical error statistics are alarming, yet they provide us with the sense of urgency we need – to collectively work together to reduce errors and eliminate preventable deaths from taking place in our hospitals. Take a look at the statistics we’ve collected, share them amongst your network, and most importantly, learn about the considerable levels of error that exist in acute care so that we can turn these harrowing facts into opportunities for effective change and patient safety improvement together.
Healthcare-Associated Infections
As many as 28,000 patients die from CLABSI annually in U.S. intensive care units (AHRQ, n.d.). CLABSIs have a mortality rate of 12-25% (CDC, 2011). CLABSIs in the US alone cost $2.3 billion annually (Sagana & Hyzy, 2013).1
Healthcare-Associated Infections
Between 15-25% of hospitalized patients receive urinary catheters during their hospital stay, and prolonged use of a urinary catheter is a risk factor for developing a CAUTI (CDC, 2021). Catheter acquired urinary tract infection is one of the most common healthcare acquired infections. 70–80% of these infections are attributable to use of an indwelling urethral catheter (Nicolle, 2014).2
Hand Hygiene
Over a 16-month follow-up period with an implemented infection-control program, hand-hygiene compliance increased from 41.0% (2235/5454) to 50.5% (3246/6428)3
Hand Hygiene
In a study, it showed that over a 4-year period when hand-hygiene improved from 47.6% (1349/2834) to 66.2% (1701/2569), the prevalence of health-care-associated infections decreased from 16.9% to 9.9%4
Hand Hygiene
In a study with exceptionally high initial hand-hygiene compliance of 82.6%, compliance increased to 95.9% while the rate of health-care-associated infections fell by 6.0% during the 17-month study period5
Ventilation Management
A study identified a strong association between hospital mortality and NVHAP, with patients who acquired NVHAP having an 8.4 times greater odds of death (95% CI, 5.6-12.5)6
Ventilation Management
NV-HAP among individuals residing in long-term care facilities and the incidence of pneumonia in this health care setting which accounts for up to 18% of all persons admitted to acute care hospital for pneumonia7
Racial Disparities & Biases in Healthcare
Racial and ethnic minorities receive lower-quality health care than white people—even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable8
8.
Bridges, K. M. (n.d.). Implicit Bias and Racial Disparities in Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/racial-disparities-in-health-care/
Racial Disparities & Biases in Healthcare
Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women – and this disparity increases with age9
9.
Petersen EE, Davis NL, Goodman D, et al. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:762–765. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6835a3
Racial Disparities & Biases in Healthcare
An emerging body of research indicates that patients from minority groups are at higher risk of patient safety events, which are events that could have or did result in harm to the patient, compared to the mainstream population.10
10.
Chauhan, A., Walton, M., Manias, E. et al. The safety of health care for ethnic minority patients: a systematic review. Int J Equity Health 19, 118 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01223-2