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Medical errors are more likely in outpatient settings

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, April 7, 2004

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A recent study of malpractice claims indicates that medical errors occur more often in outpatient settings than in hospitals. Researchers reviewed 15 years of claims and found that 68% occurred outside of the hospital.

This is partly because more patients are seen in outpatient settings, according to lead author Robert Phillips, Jr., MD, assistant director of the policy branch of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "One in five people in America get seen in the outpatient setting every month, but only eight people in 100 wind up in a hospital each month," he said in the April "Quality and Safety in Health Care." 

The study reviewed 49,345 claims settled between 1985 and 2000 that involved such primary care doctors as family physicians and general practitioners, general internists, and general pediatricians. Approximately 6,000 claims were from a negligent act, resulting in more than 1,200 deaths in outpatient settings v. approximately 800 in hospitals.

Diagnostic errors appeared to be the underlying cause of 34% of the claims, said Phillips.

Go to http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errorsix.htm for more information on patient safety and medical errors.

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