CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
-
Multicenter Study
Adverse events among medical patients after discharge from hospital.
Adverse events (AEs) are adverse outcomes caused by medical care. Several studies have indicated that a substantial number of patients experience AEs before or during hospitalization. However, few data describe AEs after hospital discharge. We determined the incidence, severity, preventability and ameliorability of AEs in patients discharged from the general internal medicine service of a Canadian hospital. ⋯ Approximately one-quarter of patients in our study had an AE after hospital discharge, and half of the AEs were preventable or ameliorable.