This Year, an Average of 60 Patient Safety Incidents Occur Daily in Medical Institutions

This year, an average of 60 patient safety incidents occurred daily in medical institutions.

According to the National Assembly inspection data submitted by the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation to Han Jeong-ae, a member of the Health and Welfare Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, an average of approximately 60.4 patient safety incidents occurred daily within medical institutions this year.

The number of patient safety incidents increased by 60% over five years, from 3,864 cases in 2018 to 14,820 cases last year. In the first half of this year alone, 10,934 patient safety incidents were reported.

Since 2018, a total of 74,022 patient safety incidents have occurred. Among these, 673 incidents resulted in patient deaths. The number of fatal incidents increased by 48.4% over five years, from 95 cases in 2018 to 141 cases in 2022. Incidents classified as death, severe, or moderate harm accounted for 10% of all patient safety incidents. Meanwhile, 77% were minor or no-harm incidents.

By type of incident, falls accounted for 31,755 cases, or 42.9%, out of the total 74,022 incidents. During the first half of this year, 3,391 fall incidents occurred, averaging nearly 18.7 falls per day. The second most frequent type of incident was medication errors, which accounted for 27,112 cases or 36.6% of the total.

The location where incidents occurred most frequently was inpatient wards, with 26,972 cases, representing 43.1% of all incidents. Outpatient clinics accounted for 16.2%, followed by pharmacy departments at 4.8%.

Assemblywoman Han Jeong-ae pointed out, "The Minister of Health and Welfare is required by the Patient Safety Act to establish a comprehensive patient safety plan and prepare measures to prevent and avoid recurrence of patient safety incidents. However, the number of such incidents has been increasing every year." She added, "Even if the increase in reported patient safety incidents is due to heightened awareness compared to the past, considering the rate of increase, it is questionable whether proper measures are being taken to identify causes and prepare prevention strategies through the patient safety reporting and learning system." She emphasized, "A thorough review of overall patient safety measures is necessary, especially to identify causes and establish fundamental prevention strategies for incidents resulting in severe harm or death."