Patient safety incidents involving acutely sick adults in hospital assessment units in England and Wales: a mixed methods analysis

Abstract

Around 6% of medical encounters result in preventable patient safety incidents, and 12% of these result in severe or fatal outcomes.1 The acute medical unit (AMU) was introduced in 2004 to improve patient outcomes by allowing patients referred from general practice to receive specialist medical care faster.2 However, healthcare poses risks to all patients, and it is well documented that acutely sick patients are at heightened risk of unsafe care due to medication errors, treatment delays and complications arising from multiple care handovers.3–6 Patient safety is predicated on understanding why errors occur and using this to redesign care …