Poor quality care in healthcare settings
An overlooked epidemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22085876 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Augustine Kumah (0000-0002-9408-2152, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Pages | 1504172-1504172 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1504172 |
| PMID | 39957980 |
| OpenAlex | W4406808321 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 34 |
Adverse events in healthcare settings, including medical errors, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), and surgical complications, have been a persistent challenge globally, contributing significantly to patient morbidity and mortality. Over the past decade, these events have remained prevalent despite increasing efforts to improve patient safety. This narrative literature review explores the burden of poor-quality care. It examines the trends in adverse events and associated mortalities from 2015 to 2024, highlighting the impact of these events on global health outcomes and identifying potential strategies for reducing their occurrence. Data were collected from various sources such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Ebscohost. The analysis revealed that ~10%−12% of hospitalized patients in high-income countries experienced adverse events annually from 2015 to 2024. Globally, the WHO estimated that 134 million adverse events occurred each year, with ~2.6 million deaths attributed to these events. Adverse events in healthcare settings remain a significant public health challenge, contributing to millions of preventable deaths annually. The persistence of these events highlights systemic issues within healthcare delivery, including inadequate safety protocols, underreporting, and workforce challenges
Adverse effect · Economic growth · Environmental health · Family medicine · Global health · Health care · Healthcare delivery · Intensive care medicine · Medical emergency · MEDLINE · Patient safety · Public health · Scopus · Workforce · Healthcare Quality and Management · Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues · Medicine · Nursing · Patient Safety and Medication Errors
Policy failure and the policy-implementation gap
Building resilient health systems
Antibiotic resistance—the need for global solutions
Governance Challenges in Global Health
Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era
The Social Determinants of Health
Defining quality of care
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |