Effect of mandatory reporting system on prevalence of intraop adverse events

Editor's Note

After implementation of an anesthesia information management system (AIMS)-based mandatory quality assurance process for reporting of intraoperative adverse events at two academic medical centers, documented adverse events decreased significantly, this study finds.

Over a 2-year period after implementation of mandatory reporting, the adverse event rate at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, decreased from 1.23% to 0.64%. The decrease occurred primarily in preventable events, which declined from 1.01% to 0.52%. The rate of unpreventable events was unchanged.

Over a 7-year period after implementation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, the adverse event rate decreased from 4.20% to 1.36%.

Adding mandatory perioperative outcomes reporting in AIMS may represent a valuable method to improve the overall safety of anesthesia, the authors say.

BACKGROUND: Anesthesia information management systems (AIMSs) have been effectively used to improve quality in anesthesia care, and have enabled the development of mandatory quality assurance (QA) reporting systems for adverse events (AEs). While this approach has been shown to increase event rep...