Acontecimientos adversos en un servicio de cirugía general y de aparato digestivo de un hospital universitario*

The Spanish and Italian Healthcare Professionals' Contribution to the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire Short Form in the Operating Room: Construct Validity and Reliability

OBJECTIVES

The aims of the study are to determine the construct validity and reliability of the Spanish and Italian versions of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire Short Form and to study the capability of this scale of distinguishing between different countries, types of healthcare professionals, and attitudes around patient safety.

METHOD

This was a cross-sectional study of the scale among registered nurses, surgeons, and anesthetists providing direct patient care at surgical inpatient units within public health services in Spain (Sistema Nacional de Salud) and Italy (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale). Construct validity, in both countries, was firstly assessed by exploratory factor analysis. Then, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and finally an assessment was performed by means of hypothesis testing. The reliability of the scale was calculated using Cronbach α coefficient.

RESULTS

A total of 499 healthcare professionals completed the questionnaire (Spain, n = 183; Italy, n = 316). The questionnaire showed excellent internal consistency (α = 0.85). An exploratory factor analysis identified a new factor model of the scale. The confirmatory factor analysis performed on this new model reflected the fair dimensionality of the construct (χ2 = 1193.63, root mean square error of approximation < 0.05, standardized root mean square residual < 0.08; nonnormed fit index, comparative fit index, incremental fit index, and goodness of fit index values = 0.90, indicating a good fit).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides scientific evidence of the construct validity and reliability of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire Short Form in both Spain and Italy, showing the capability of this scale of distinguishing between different countries, types of healthcare professionals, and attitudes around patient safety.

[How to identify adverse events in emergency services? A guide agreed for the screening]

OBJECTIVE

Since a third of adverse events (AE) occur outside hospital, the Emergency Services are a suitable place to look at their incidence. We considered designing a screening guide, adapted to the conditions of the emergency services, to identify AE.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A qualitative technique was applied (nominal group) in which 14 professionals participated. They analysed which factors of intrinsic risk, extrinsic risk, and alert conditions, were suitable for a screening guide of AE in emergency services. The session was chaired by a specialist in these types of techniques.

RESULTS

Consensus was high in that the most frequent AE in emergencies were those related to medicines, diagnostic tests and with the correct identification of the reason for emergency. With respect to screening guide, the group proposed adding alcohol abuse, patient social problems, cognitive deterioration, basal autonomy and disability. In relation to extrinsic risk factors, they pointed to the need of including defibrillation, spinal tap or drainage implantation. With respect to the alert conditions form, the professionals agreed in that all the criteria seemed correct and suitable, except for that related to damage relation childbirth or amniocentesis.

CONCLUSIONS

By using this technique we have managed to validate materials already recognized, and widely used in our country. The screening guide was considered useful, with slight modifications in some risk factors and alert conditions. The professionals agreed that the MRF2 modular questionnaire is appropriate for the characterisation of AE in emergencies.

[Adverse events in ambulatory surgical procedures]

OBJECTIVE

To assess the incidence of adverse events and patients with adverse events in ambulatory surgical procedures and to compare it with that of other studies.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Historical cohort study. The scope of the study was the ambulatory surgical procedures unit of a university hospital. All general surgery department patients seen in this unit during the year 2005 were included.

RESULTS

The incidence of patients with adverse events directly related to hospital care was of 3% (95% CI, 0.9-5). Of the adverse events identified 5 were considered slight, 3 moderate and none were considered serious. All the moderate ones were considered unavoidable and of slight, only the one was avoidable. Six of the adverse events were associated to a procedure, one due to hospital infections and one with other causes. There was an increase in hospital stay due to 75% of the adverse events, and 25% of them affected admission.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of adverse events related to medical care in the Spanish hospitals is similar to those found in the studies carried out in American and European countries using the same methodology. The surgical area is considered a high risk unit. However, ambulatory surgical procedures reduce these risks, in such a way that the incidence is far below that of surgery department. Therefore, besides improving the technical efficiency of the clinical services, it is safer for the patients.

[Adverse events in Intensive Medicine. Managing risk]

Health care interventions entail a risk of adverse events (AE), that may cause lesions, incapacities and even death in the patients. Given the complexity of the care of the critical patient, the Critical Care Services are a high risk setting for the appearance of AE in these patients, many of them avoidable. Several studies show the influence of organizational factors focused on the system in the reduction of care risk and on the result of the critical patients. The voluntary and anonymous registry and reporting systems make it possible to identify a significant percentage of these incidents, analyze the factors related (that contribute or limit), establish preventive strategies, permitting management of risk, and potentially reduce the appearance and consequences of avoidable AE with all this. Initiatives such as the ICU Safety Reporting System (ICUSRS), that use a web database as registry system and includes contributions from different sites, favor the safety and risk culture, essential in the improvement of health quality of critical patients.