Hospitals in New Hampshire reported 64 seriously adverse events to the state Department of Health and Human Services last year, according to New Hampshire Business Review's coverage of the Adverse Events Report.
The number of adverse events fell 12 percent year-over-year, but they are still occurring more frequently than in 2013, according to the report.
The most commonly reported adverse event was stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers (22 reported), then death or serious injury associated with a fall (21), other (11) and surgical or invasive procedure events (10).
Of the surgical adverse events, four were wrong-site procedures, five involved leaving a foreign object in a patient and one was a wrong-procedure event, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon reported the most adverse events at 16, but George Blike, MD, the hospital's chief quality and value officer, told the Business Review all but one of those events were minor and temporary.
"When looking at the total number of events at Dartmouth-Hitchcock or any other hospital, it is important to take into account how many patients the hospital sees and how sick those patients are," Dr. Blike told the magazine. "Dartmouth-Hitchcock sees the most and the sickest patients in the state."