Incidence of Medical Errors by Interns in Japan / 医学教育

ABSTRACT

Recently, patient safety has become a social concern in Japan. Even though cases of “incidents” and “accidents” by interns have been collected and analyzed in each hospital, few published reports have concerned teaching hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of “incidents” and “accidents” by first-year and second-year interns in Japan.<BR>1) In August 2005, a questionnaire was mailed to 231 interns at 14 teaching hospitals. A total of 192 interns participated in this study, with a response rate of 83.1%.<BR>2) The number of cases of “incidents” and “accidents” involving interns since the start of their training was collected.An “incident” was defined as an error that was prevented before occurrence, whereas an “accident” was defined as an unplanned, unexpected, and undesired event with adverse consequences.<BR>3) Among first-year interns, “incidents” occurred at a rate of 0.79 per resident-month (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.30-1.28), while “accidents” were observed at a rate of 0.13 per resident-month (95% CI 0.06-0.20).<BR>4) Among second-year interns, “incidents” occurred at a rate of 0.24 per resident-month (95% CI 0.14-1.34), and “accidents” were observed at a rate of 0.06 per resident-month (95% CI 0.01-0.11).<BR>5) There was no significant difference in the number of cases of “incidents” and “accidents” in regards to sex, age, or the number of beds of teaching hospitals.