Analysis of accidents during rehabilitation training at an acute-care hospital

Abstract

Objective: Accidents that occurred during rehabilitation training were retrospectively analyzed to understand the risks involved in rehabilitation training. Methods: Subjects were 33,905 patients who underwent rehabilitation training at an acute-care hospital over an 8-year period. In total, 457 accidents occurred during rehabilitation training and were analyzed. Data collected were: accident incidence rate, patient’s position/behavior at the time of the accident, state of assistance/supervision by the therapist in charge, and annual number of accidents per therapist by years of experience. Results: Most accidents that occurred during rehabilitation training involved bleeding, falls, and route-related accidents (accidents related to use of catheters, intravenous lines, or nasogastric tubes), in that order. Half of the accidents occurred in a training room. Bleeding was associated with a variety of behaviors, including lying, sitting, and walking, and 40% of falls occurred while walking. Examination of the number of accidents per therapist by years of experience showed patients tended to experience accidents when being assisted/supervised by therapists with 1–4 years of experience. Conclusions: Many accidents that occurred during rehabilitation training at this acute-care hospital involved bleeding or falls. Accidents were more common when a therapist with only a few years of experience was conducting the training.

Keywords

• accidents
• rehabilitation
• acute-stage hospital