Zdarzenia medyczne w opiece zdrowotnej. Szacunek ilościowy dla Polski
Medical Events in Health Care. A Quantitative Estimate for Poland

Summary/Abstract: Poland does not have a comprehensive, nationwide, mandatory system for collecting information on medical events, although some medical entities may undertake such activities on their own initiative. The Office of the Patient Ombudsman, a government agency created to ensure patient safety, keeps statistics on medical events in a residual manner. The importance of the problem of medical events for the functioning of the health care system, as evidenced by the results of studies conducted in developed countries, prompts us to undertake estimates of the magnitude of this phenomenon in Poland. The purpose of the article is to estimate the quantitative scope of medical events in Polish health care. The research methods used in the article are: critical analysis of the literature, deduction as a means of theoretical inference, analysis of statistical data. In view of the residual and incomplete Polish quantitative data, in order to estimate the number of medical events, the method of extrapolation of the phenomenon using datasets published in selected countries of Europe, the USA and other developed countries, which is recognized in the literature and in the practice of operation of health care systems, was used. The analysis performed allows us to conclude that quantitative estimates of the phenomenon of medical incidents in Poland differ fundamentally from the quantitative data available from national sources.

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