Information exchange in intensive care: how can we improve?

Medical error is thought to contribute to a significant proportion of adverse events in hospitalized patients. An adverse event is an injury caused by medical management rather than the underlying condition of the patient. Three sentinel studies which have examined adverse events in hospitalized patients include those of Leape et al., Bates et al. and Thomas et al.. The data on adverse events rates and preventable adverse events are detailed in Table 1.