Equipment-related critical incidents in a general intensive care unit.

Introduction The complexity of the care provided for critically ill patients frequently leads to medical errors with potential harm. To improve standards of care, each incident should be recorded, reported and discussed within the team. The reporting system highlights where errors were made and what lessons can be learnt from such incidents. These are commonly reported as “critical incidents” or “serious incidents”. A study by Welters et al (2011) found equipment errors accounted for a large number of critical incidents (CI) [1]. It has been found that CIs may lead to longer hospital stays, increasing the cost of patient care; therefore further research into CIs and their prevention is justified [2].