The following are statistics on hospital-acquired conditions, adverse events and patient safety extracted from chapter three, "Patient Safety Importance," from the 2012 National Healthcare Quality Report. The report is produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Nationwide, for every 1,000 hospital admissions in 2010:
- 49 patients experienced adverse drug events (accounting for 34.1 percent of hospital-acquired conditions).
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!
- 40 patients developed pressure ulcers (27.8 percent of HACs).
- 27 patients developed some other hospital-acquired condition (18.8 percent of HACs).
- 12 patients developed catheter-associated urinary tract infections (8.4 percent of HACs.
- 8 patients fell while in the hospital (5.5 percent of HACs).
- 3 patients developed surgical site infections (2.1 percent of HACs).
- 3 patients experienced obstetric adverse events (1.7 percent of HACs).
- 1.2 patients contracted ventilator-associated pneumonia (0.8 percent of HACs).
- 0.5 patients developed central line-associated bloodstream infections (0.4 percent of HACs).
- 0.5 patients had a venous thromboembolism (0.3 percent of HACs).
Specific statistics from the report on several conditions include:
- Postoperative sepsis (2009) — 15.31 per 1,000 discharges. The rate was approximately equal across all income groups but patients 65 and older were at a higher risk for the condition.
- CAUTIs (2010) — 3.6 percent of postoperative adult surgery patients requiring a catheter. Less than 2 percent of adults less than 65 years of age contracted a CAUTI, while between 3.4 and 6.3 of those over 65 years of age contracted the infection, with increased age increasing risk of CAUTI.
- CLABSIs (2009) — 2.8 per 1,000 medical and surgical discharges for stays lasting two or more days. CLABSI rates were higher in Medicaid patients and in male patients by about 1 percent.
- Pediatric CLABSIs (2010) — 1.8 per 1,000 central line days for medical/surgical ICUs. Risk of developing a CLABSI increased as the child's weight decreased.
- Adverse events from catheter placement (2010) — 3.3 percent. Rates were more than half a percent higher in obese patients, patients with lung diseases and patients with kidney disease.
More Articles on Quality:
75 Statistics on the Wait for Care in Metropolitan Areas
Heart Transplant Death Risk Varies 900%
Reducing Readmissions to Reduce Penalties: Where to Begin?