Reviewing deaths in British and US hospitals: a study of two scales for assessing preventability.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Standardised mortality ratios do not provide accurate measures of preventable mortality. This has generated interest in using case notes to assess the preventable component of mortality. But, different methods of measurement have not been compared. We compared the reliability of two scales for assessing preventability and the correspondence between them.

Methods

Medical specialists reviewed case notes of patients who had died in hospital, using two instruments: a five-point Likert scale and a continuous (0-100) scale of preventability. To enhance generalisability, we used two different hospital datasets with different types of acute medical patients across different epochs, and in two jurisdictions (UK and USA). We investigated the reliability of measurement and c

SUBMITTER: Manaseki-Holland S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5530333 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature