Critical incidents rates and types in Italian Intensive Care Units: A five-year analysis.

To describe rates and types of critical incidents in Intensive Care Units. A retrospective study in four intensive care units of an Academic Hospital located in the North-East of Italy. All critical incidents recorded in an incident reporting system database from 2013 to 2017 were collected. 160 critical incidents emerged. The rate was 1.7/100 intensive care-patient admissions, and 2.86/1000 in intensive care-patient days. Nurses reported most of the critical incidents (n = 113, 70.6%). In 2013 there were 19 (11.9%) critical incidents which significantly increased by 2017 (n = 38, 23.7%; p = 0.034). The most frequent critical incidents were medication/intravenous fluids issues (n = 35, 21.9%) and resources and organisational management (n = 35, 21.9%). Less frequently occurring incidents concerned medical devices/equipment (n = 29, 18.1%), clinical processes/procedures (n = 18, 11.3%), documentation (n = 14, 8.8%) and patient accidents (n = 13, 8.1%). Rare incidents included behaviour, clinical administration, nutrition, blood products and healthcare associated infection. Over a five-year period, documented incidents were steadily increasing in four Italian intensive care units. A voluntary incident reporting system might provide precious information on safety issues occurring in units. at both policy and professional levels.

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