Adverse drug events prove costly, deadly
A recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association assessed the costs associated with adverse drug events at two tertiary care hospitals that had 4,000 admissions during a six-month period. Costs of preventable events were estimated to be $2.8 million. Costs associated with all adverse drug events were $5.6 million. In addition, attributable mortality and prolonged hospital stays an average of 4.6 days associated with adverse drug events increased twofold.
Another study, this one published in Lancet, said investigators had identified serious adverse events related to inappropriate care in 17.7% of patients. Many of those resulted in serious complications ranging from temporary disability to death. Of the errors identified, 25% had administrative or interactive causes.
Both these reports suggest that hospitals can justify devoting resources to the development of systems that work proactively to reduce those numbers.
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