Table 5

Occurrence rates of serious preventable adverse events: comparison of New Zealand with other countries

Other countries	AE rate	New Zealand (1998)	AE rate
*Incident recorded by healthcare professional during sampled admission and later assessed as adverse event by study physician reviewer.
AE = adverse event; NZQHS = New Zealand Quality of Health Care Study; QAHCS = Quality in Australian Health Care Study; HMPS = Harvard Medical Practice Study; UTCOS = Utah and Colorado Study.
QAHCS, Australia (1992)⁴QAHCS, Australia (1992) 28 hospitals, 14179 records reviewed All AEs associated with sampled admission Health management causation: any evidence Preventability: more likely than not Permanent disability or death	1.7%	NZQHS (13 hospitals, 6579 records reviewed) All AEs associated with sampled admission Health management causation: any evidence Preventability: more likely than not Permanent disability or death	0.7% (n=48)
HMPS, New York, USA (1984) ¹⁸ 51 hospitals, 30195 records reviewed AEs detected during sampled admission Health management causation: more likely than not Preventability: more likely than not Disability >6 months or death	0.7%	AEs detected during sampled admission* Health management causation: more likely than not Preventability: more likely than not Disability >6 months or death	0.9% (n=58)
UTCOS, Utah and Colorado, USA (1992) ¹⁹ 28 hospitals, 14700 records reviewed Age >16 years AEs detected during sampled admission Health management causation: more likely than not Preventability: more likely than not Permanent disability or death	0.3%	Age >16 years (n=5183) AEs detected during sampled admission* Health management causation: more likely than not Preventability: more likely than not Permanent disability or death	0.7% (n=38)