Incident reporting in Mashhad hospitals

In this study, our aim was to evaluate and classify the voluntary error reports in the hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Patients have the right to receive health care in accordance to the best standards. Health care carries a risk of harm for patient safety, and with respect to today's stressful systems with a large number of patients, it would be inevitable. The meaning of risk management is to predict adverse events and reduce their occurrence. A voluntary medical error reporting form was designed and approved by the clinical governance team of Mashhad Medical University. They were then distributed inside hospitals in the way in which everyone [health providers and patients] could access them easily. The forms were collected and classified monthly in all wards. Classification was performed on the base of type, outcome and reporter. Data gathering took place from spring to autumn 2012. The data was analyzed by the SPSS software. 2500 errors were extracted from 1000 voluntary error reporting forms of the 12 hospitals of Mashhad Medical University. The most frequent error type was treatment errors [36%] related to drug administration, standard procedures and surgical events. Error reporting as a basic activity has an important role in discovering pitfalls of the health care system. To promote the reporting culture, its non punitive base must become clear for all professors and staff members, because this kind of reporting could lead to fewer medical errors and higher staff awareness about probable errors.

Guillain-Barre syndrome in north eastern Iran; 1999-2005

To study the clinical presentation, hospital course and outcomes of patients admitted with Guillain-Barre Syndrome [CBS] to three tertiary care hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. The records of all patients admitted with flaccid paralysis between April 1999 and January 2005 were reviewed and those with the diagnosis of GBS were included in the study. Standard questionnaires were used to record clinical data on was recorded on a standardized questionnaire, which included patients' age, sex, antecedent infectious history, neurological signs and symptoms and ventilation requirements. The hospital course, including therapy given and the functional status of patients, was analyzed, including therapy given and the functional status of patients. Ninety-one cases of acute flaccid paralysis were admitted to the hospitals during the study period. Eighty-three cases, age range 10 months to 11 years, were later diagnosed as GBS afterwards, with age range of 10 months to 11 years. The mean age for disease onset was 4.2 years; there were 47 boys and 34 girls, male to female ratio 1:0.7. Upper respiratory tract infection [62.6%] was the most common antecedent event, followed by gastrointestinal infections [19%], urinary tract infection [1.2%] and chicken pox [2.4%], while the remaining cases [14.8%] had no other cases [14.8%] did not have any reliable history of any preceding antecedent infections. Most patients developed GBS within one month of the preceding infection. Cranial nerve abnormalities [19.3%], autonomic dysfunction [7.2%] and respiratory failure requiring intubation [10.8%] were also common. The in-patient mortality was 2.4% [2 of 83]. GBS was found to occur slightly more often in male patients, majority of whom had histories of previous infection. Despite persistent disability, in-hospital mortality was low