Keywords

failure to rescue, medical record review, nursing-sensitive indicators, quality improvement, patient safety indicators

Authors

1. Talsma, AkkeNeel PhD, RN
2. Bahl, Vinita DMD
3. Campbell, Darrell A. MD

Abstract

Clinicians and hospital leaders are interested in assessing the degree to which the failure-to-rescue indicator identifies true problems in processes of care at the individual or system level. Failure-to-rescue complications are flagged through administrative data, and the clinical course of events is evaluated. The review suggests that many factors influence whether a case is included in the measure, such as existing health problems, the presence of complex comorbidities, and variation in clinical documentation and coding practices.