Adverse events following intensive care discharge: The contribution of system, clinician and patient factors

An adverse medical event is any unintended injury or complication that arises from health care management rather than the patient’s underlying disease, and results in disability, death or a prolonged hospital stay. Unfortunately, these events occur frequently across the care continuum including in patients recently discharged from Intensive Care Units (ICU). Currently there is limited understanding of adverse events in hospitalised post-ICU patients. Given the significant costs, consequences and preventability of these events, greater understanding of post-ICU adverse events is needed.