Surgical errors and the relationships of disease, risks, and adverse events

Background Relationships between surgical errors and adverse events have not been fully explored and were examined in this study. Materials and methods This retrospective cohort study reviewed records of deceased surgical patients over 12 months. Bivariate associations between predictors and errors were examined. Results 84 deaths occurred following 5,209 operations. Errors in care (63%) compared to those without had significantly more adverse events, (98% vs 80% respectively, p = 0.004). Significant association occurred between error and emergency status, p = 0.016); length of stay >10 days, p = 0.011; adverse events, p = 0.005). Regression results indicated number of adverse events (OR = 1.27, 95% CI (1.08–1.49), p = 0.003) and length of stay (OR = 1.05, 95% CI (1.01–1.09), p = 0.008) were associated with surgical errors. Conclusions Examining postoperative adverse events in error cases identified opportunities for improvement. Reducing medical errors requires measuring medical errors.