Patients' reports of adverse events: A data linkage study of Australian adults aged 45 years and over

Abstract

Background Understanding a patient's hospital experience is fundamental to improving health services and policy, yet, little is known about their experiences of adverse events (AEs). This study redresses this deficit by investigating the experiences of patients in New South Wales hospitals who suffered an AE. Methods Data linkage was used to identify a random sample of 20000 participants in the 45 and Up Cohort Study, out of 267153 adults aged 45years and over, who had been hospitalised in the prior 6months. A cross-sectional survey was administered to these patients to capture their experiences, including whether they had an AE and received honest communication about it. Results Of the 1899..