Incidents and Sudden Patient Deteriorations Occurring During Their Rehabilitation Sessions in an Acute Care Hospital: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the occurrence of incidents and sudden deteriorations during rehabilitation in an acute care setting by disease category based on the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

University hospital in Japan with 1376 beds.

Participants

A total of 49,927 patients who were admitted to the acute care wards and underwent rehabilitation over 8 years, from April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2021.

Interventions

Rehabilitation in an acute care setting.

Main Outcome Measures

Incidents and sudden deteriorations reported in medical charts.

Results

Among 49,927 admissions, 455 incidents and 683 sudden deteriorations occurred during rehabilitation. The incidents and sudden deteriorations occurred at rates of 0.009/person (0.50 case/1000 h) and 0.012/person (0.75 case/1000 h), respectively. The 3 most frequent incidents were “route-related incidents” (178 cases, 39.1%), followed by “bleeding/abrasions” (131 cases, 28.8%) and “falls” (125 cases, 27.5%). Among 12 disease categories with over 500 admissions and 10,000 rehabilitation hours, the highest incident rate occurred in “certain infectious and parasitic diseases” (0.81 case/1000 h), followed by “diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue” (0.67 case/1000 h) and “diseases of the genitourinary system” (0.66 case/1000 h). The commonest sudden deterioration was “vomiting” (460 cases, 67.3%), followed by “decreased level of consciousness (with reduced blood pressure)” (42 cases, 6.1%) and “seizure” (39 cases, 5.7%). Furthermore, the highest sudden deterioration rate was in the “endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases” (1.19 case/1000 h) category, followed by “neoplasms” (1.04 case/1000 h) and “certain infectious and parasitic diseases” (0.99 case/1000 h).

Conclusions

An incident and sudden deterioration occurred every 2000 and 1333 h, respectively, during rehabilitation. Therefore, understanding the actual occurrence of incidents and sudden deteriorations during rehabilitation may provide valuable insights into preventing incidents and emergencies.