The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), run by the US Department of Health and Human Services, developed patient safety indicators to measure potential inpatient complications following certain procedures. Although not all the complications identified in these indicators are preventable, the process of monitoring patient safety indicators shows hospitals where to focus their attention for further review.
This measurement is an average of 11 indicators including:
- Pressure ulcer
- Iatrogenic pneumothorax
- Central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection
- Postoperative hip fracture
- Postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombus
- Postoperative sepsis
- Postoperative wound dehiscence
- Accidental puncture or laceration
- Postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma
- Postoperative physiologic and metabolic derangements
- Postoperative respiratory failure
