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Accidental Injuries of Hospitalized Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

James E. Groves
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
Philip W. Lavori
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
Jerrold F. Rosenbaum
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital

Abstract

Eight hundred and six medical and surgical patients who were hospitalized via the emergency ward were followed over their entire inpatient stays and rated in anterograde, double-blind fashion for inpatient incidents (falls, medication errors, other). Injuries were minor but affected 2.2% of admissions, a figure which is strikingly similar to studies in other hospitals. There was a statistical trend toward a higher-than-normal risk of hazardous in-hospital incidents for males age 20 to 40 admitted because of injury and for medically ill females over 60 years old.

Type
Research Note
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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