Association between language, serious adverse events, and length of stay among hospitalized children.

Objective: To evaluate the risk for serious/sentinel adverse events among hospitalized children according to race, ethnicity, and language and to evaluate factors affecting length of stay associated with serious/sentinel adverse events.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all pediatric inpatients at a large children's hospital from October 2007 to October 2009. We evaluated the relationship between self-reported race, ethnicity, and primary language; with having a serious or sentinel adverse event, defined as an unexpected occurrence involving risk of death or serious injury; or a potentially harmful event resulting from nonstandard practice.

Use of incident reports by physicians and nurses to document medical errors in pediatric patients.

Objectives: To describe the proportion and types of medical errors that are stated to be reported via incident report systems by physicians and nurses who care for pediatric patients and to determine attitudes about potential interventions for increasing error reports.

Methods: A survey on use of incident reports to document medical errors was sent to a random sample of 200 physicians and nurses at a large children's hospital. Items on the survey included proportion of medical errors that were reported, reasons for underreporting medical errors, and attitudes about potential interventions for increasing error reports.