HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Read responses to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wasson, J. H Articles by Hall, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wasson, J. H Articles by Hall, M.

Patients use an internet technology to report when things go wrong

¹ Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
² Norris Cotton Cancer Center, One Medical Center Drive, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
³ Hall Stewart, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA (posthumous)

Correspondence to:
Dr J H Wasson
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA; john.h.wasson{at}dartmouth.edu
ABSTRACT
Background: As patients directly experience harm from adverse events, investigators have proposed patient-report to complement professional reporting of adverse events.

Objective: To investigate how an automated health assessment system can be used to identify adverse events.

Design and setting: Internet survey responses from April 2003 to April 2005 involving communities and clinical practices across the USA.

Patients: 44 860 adults aged 19–69 years.

Outcome: Patient perceptions of adverse events experienced during the previous year. Independent legal review was also used to estimate how many patient-reports were serious enough to be potentially compensable.

Results: Although patient reports of possible adverse events was low (1.4%), the percentage of adverse events was eight times higher for patients with the greatest burden of illness than for those with the least (3.4% vs 0.4%). Two expert malpractice attorneys agreed that 9% of the adverse events seemed to be serious.

Conclusions: Patients will use internet technology to report their perceptions of health-related adverse events. Some of the patient-reported events reported will be serious.