Inpatient Accidents in Hospitals

In patients admitted to the hospital in the city of Malmö altogether 499 accidents occurred in one year. More than half of the accidents occurred in patients in geriatric care. Seventy-two percent of the patients were unobserved when the accident occurred. Thirty percent had fallen at least once in the last two months. There were 299 fractures--127 were hip fractures--contributing about one-fourth of all hip fractures in the city. The mortality of the hospital accident group was twice as high as in age- and sex-matched hospital controls and three times as high as in the population of Sweden. The accident patients more often than hospital controls had suffered from dizziness and confusion but were more mobile. More or less obvious environmental factors were involved in one-third of the accidents. Hospital care may not protect the mentally and physically incapacitated elderly patients from all accidents unless special measures are taken, measures that may interfere with the personal integrity of the patients and with the ultimate goals of rehabilitation.