ArticleBMJ open2016
Evidence-based interventions to reduce adverse events in hospitals: a systematic review of systematic reviews.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Incidence and characteristics of adverse events in paediatric inpatient care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2023Pooled it
- Best Nursing Intervention Practices to Prevent Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review.Public health reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Interventions for implementation of thromboprophylaxis in hospitalized patients at risk for venous thromboembolism.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- "But Will It Last?": Examining How Pharmacy Staff Perceptions Influence Beliefs About the Sustainability of a Pharmacy-Based Intervention Targeting Older Adult Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medication Misuse.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Grounded large language models for diagnostic prediction in real-world emergency department settings.JAMIA open · 2025Article
- Barriers and facilitators to disseminating quality improvement and patient safety research: a scoping review.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2025Article
- Evaluation of a score for identifying hospital stays that trigger a pharmacist intervention: integration into a clinical decision support system.JAMIA open · 2025Article
- Patient handover practice of nurses and associated factors in South Wollo Zone Public Hospitals, Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Analyzing the impact of surgical technique on intraoperative adverse events in laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery by video-based assessment.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Analysis of characteristics of unintentional injuries among hospitalized children and preventive strategies-based on adverse event data of a regional medical center in western China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Bundle for gastric catheterization in newborns: from construction to validation.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Hospital nurses and physicians' experiences practicing patient safety work to recognize deteriorating patients: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Use of Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Hospitalized Patients: Knowledge and Practice Among Physicians in Nepal.Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · 2022Article
- Impact of adverse events on patient outcomes in a Japanese intensive care unit: a retrospective observational study.Nursing open · 2021Observational
- Exploring patient safety outcomes for people with learning disabilities in acute hospital settings: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Made to Measure: The Ethics of Routine Measurement for Healthcare Improvement.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2021Article
- Impact of electronic health records on predefined safety outcomes in patients admitted to hospital: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Factors associated with ventilator-associated events: an international multicenter prospective cohort study.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2019Article
- Limited external reproducibility restricts the use of medical record review for benchmarking.BMJ open quality · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo provide an overview of effective interventions aimed at reducing rates of adverse events in hospitals.
designSystematic review of systematic reviews. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE were searched for systematic reviews published until October 2015. STUDY SELECTION: English-language systematic reviews of interventions aimed at reducing adverse events in hospitals, including studies with an experimental design and reporting adverse event rates, were included. Two reviewers independently assessed each study's quality and extracted data on the study population, study design, intervention characteristics and adverse patient outcomes.
resultsSixty systematic reviews with moderate to high quality were included. Statistically significant pooled effect sizes were found for 14 types of interventions, including: (1) multicomponent interventions to prevent delirium; (2) rapid response teams to reduce cardiopulmonary arrest and mortality rates; (3) pharmacist interventions to reduce adverse drug events; (4) exercises and multicomponent interventions to prevent falls; and (5) care bundle interventions, checklists and reminders to reduce infections. Most (82%) of the significant effect sizes were based on 5 or fewer primary studies with an experimental study design.
conclusionsThe evidence for patient-safety interventions implemented in hospitals worldwide is weak. The findings address the need to invest in high-quality research standards in order to identify interventions that have a real impact on patient safety. Interventions to prevent delirium, cardiopulmonary arrest and mortality, adverse drug events, infections and falls are most effective and should therefore be prioritised by clinicians.
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