Adverse Events in Korean Traditional Medicine Hospitals: A Retrospective Medical Record Review.

OBJECTIVES

Traditional medicine has been used worldwide in recent decades. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of adverse events (AEs) in traditional medicine hospitals and investigate patient and health-care utilization factors associated with AE occurrence.

METHODS

A 2-stage review of 1152 randomly sampled charts in 2 teaching Korean traditional medicine hospitals was conducted. Three physicians and a quality improvement specialist identified AE occurrence, severity, and preventability using the Global Trigger Tool (Appendix 1, Supplemental Digital Content, http://links.lww.com/JPS/A19). Two traditional Korean medicine professors validated the findings. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with AE occurrence.

RESULTS

One hundred twenty-two admissions (10.6%) had at least one AE (7.39 events per 1000 patient days and 14.5 events per 100 admissions). Among 167 AEs, 73.7% were mild and 70.7% were judged preventable. Procedure-related AEs were most common. After considering other patient and health-care utilization characteristics, factors associated with AE occurrence were altered mental status on admission (OR, 3.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-12.44), use of various traditional medicine therapies (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.32-2.15), length of stay (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.03), and number of unique triggers (OR, 6.35; 95% CI, 4.54-8.89).

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately 11% of inpatients in traditional medicine hospitals experienced AEs. Because patients have a higher risk of AEs, special attention should be paid to those with altered mental status on admission, receiving various traditional medicine therapies, staying for a longer period, and having various positive triggers.