Health care safety incidents in paediatric emergency care

Objective: To characterize safety incidents in paediatric emergency departments (PEDs): frequency, sources, root causes, and consequences. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study in the PED of the Hospital Clinico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca (HCUVA). Patients were recruited through opportunity sampling and the data were collected during care delivery and one week later through a telephone survey. The methodology was based on the ERIDA study on patient safety incidents related to emergency care, which in turn was based on the ENEAS and EVADUR studies. Results: The study included a total of 204 cases. At least one incident was detected in 25 cases, with two incidents detected in 3 cases, for a total incidence of 12.3%. Twelve incidents were detected during care delivery and the rest during the telephone call. Ten percent did not reach the patient, 7.1% reached the patient but caused no harm, and 82.1% reached the patient and caused harm. Thirteen incidents (46.4%) did not have an impact on care delivery, 8 (28.6%) required a new visit or referral, 6 (21.4%) required additional observation and 1 (3.6%) medical or surgical treatment. The most frequent root causes were health care delivery and medication. Incidents related to procedures and medication were most frequent. Of all incidents, 78.6% were considered preventable, with 50% identified as clear failures in health care delivery. Conclusions: Safety incidents affected 12.3% of children managed in the PED of the HCUVA, of which 78.6% were preventable. (c) 2024 Asociaci & oacute;n Espaniola de Pediatr & imath;<acute accent>a. Published by Elsevier Espania, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/).