Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the factors influencing the degree of harm caused by patient safety incidents in intensive care units (ICUs) in Korea.
Method: Secondary data were obtained from the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation’s...
Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the factors influencing the degree of harm caused by patient safety incidents in intensive care units (ICUs) in Korea.
Method: Secondary data were obtained from the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation’s Patient Safety Annual Report between 2020 and 2024, encompassing 1,663 ICU-related incidents. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted using SPSS.
Results: The results showed that 46.9% of incidents were near misses, 40.3% were adverse events, and 12.8% were sentinel events. Patient-related factors such as age significantly influenced the severity of incidents, with those aged 70 and above accounting for the majority of sentinel events. Hospital-related factors, including hospital type, also demonstrated significant associations. Incident-related factors such as year of occurrence, type of incident, and clinical department were found to be key predictors. In particular, infections and injury/departure, disappearance, kidnapping/patient suicide, self-harm/burn were strongly associated with higher harm severity.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of targeted prevention strategies tailored to specific risk groups, including elderly patients and ICU settings vulnerable to infections. The study provides evidence-based insights to support the development of patient safety guidelines, customized education programs, and hospital-level policies to reduce harm from ICU patient safety incidents.