• Jeffrey C Fink, Jeanine Brown, Van Doren Hsu, Stephen L Seliger, Loreen Walker, and Min Zhan.
• Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. jfink@medicine.umaryland.edu
• Am. J. Kidney Dis. 2009 Apr 1;53(4):681-8.

AbstractChronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, but underrecognized, in patients in the health care system, where improving patient safety is a high priority. Poor disease recognition and several other features of CKD make it a high-risk condition for adverse safety events. In this review, we discuss the unique attributes of CKD that make it a high-risk condition for patient safety mishaps. We point out that adverse safety events in this disease have the potential to contribute to disease progression; namely, accelerated loss of kidney function and increased incidence of end-stage renal disease. We also propose a framework in which to consider patient safety in CKD, highlighting the need for disease-specific safety indicators that reflect unsafe practices in the treatment of this disease. Finally, we discuss the hypothesis that increased recognition of CKD will reduce disease-specific safety events and in this way decrease the likelihood of adverse outcomes, including an accelerated rate of kidney function loss and increased incidence of end-stage renal disease.

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