• Diane Doran, John P Hirdes, Régis Blais, G Ross Baker, Jeff W Poss, Xiaoqiang Li, Donna Dill, Andrea Gruneir, George Heckman, Hélène Lacroix, Lori Mitchell, Maeve O'Beirne, Andrea Foebel, Nancy White, Gan Qian, Sang-Myong Nahm, Odilia Yim, Lisa Droppo, and Corrine McIsaac.
• Professor Emeritus, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
• Healthc Policy. 2013 Aug 1; 9 (1): 76-88.

BackgroundThe occurrence of adverse events (AEs) in care settings is a patient safety concern that has significant consequences across healthcare systems. Patient safety problems have been well documented in acute care settings; however, similar data for clients in home care (HC) settings in Canada are limited. The purpose of this Canadian study was to investigate AEs in HC, specifically those associated with hospitalization or detected through the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC).MethodA retrospective cohort design was used. The cohort consisted of HC clients from the provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.ResultsThe overall incidence rate of AEs associated with hospitalization ranged from 6% to 9%. The incidence rate of AEs determined from the RAI-HC was 4%. Injurious falls, injuries from other than fall and medication-related events were the most frequent AEs associated with hospitalization, whereas new caregiver distress was the most frequent AE identified through the RAI-HC.ConclusionThe incidence of AEs from all sources of data ranged from 4% to 9%. More resources are needed to target strategies for addressing safety risks in HC in a broader context. Tools such as the RAI-HC and its Clinical Assessment Protocols, already available in Canada, could be very useful in the assessment and management of HC clients who are at safety risk.Copyright © 2013 Longwoods Publishing.

25 keywords...

hide…