Ugeskrift for laeger
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Ugeskrift for laeger · Sep 2001
Review[Reporting of incidents. Experiences with medical registration systems].
Current incident reporting systems in Denmark are primarily focused on litigation. Epidemiological studies in the United States have shown that only 2.7% of adverse events that qualify for litigation are identified in such systems. Existing Danish reporting on adverse effects and complications is not exhaustive and often focused on new medicine/technologies and only a few specialties. ⋯ Risk managers and locally based systems could increase reporting through better possibilities for direct feedback, although local systems have difficulty in initiating major prophylactic actions. Foreign epidemiological studies have shown an adverse events incidence of 3-13%. However, more than half of the adverse events occur at such a low frequency that it is unlikely that isolated hospital systems can produce sufficient information for prophylactic action.