Ugeskrift for laeger
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Ugeskrift for laeger · Nov 2012
[Patient deaths are not suited for monitoring quality and patient safety in hospitals].
Although some patient deaths in hospitals can be prevented if quality of care and patient safety are improved, it is not given that such deaths can be used to track improvements. Since preventable deaths only amount to about 5% of all deaths, a decline in that number will be a weak signal as far as mortality is concerned. ⋯ The same goes for structured reviews of health-care records of deceased patients. Consequently, a need to develop alternatives exists.