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Table 1 Demographic information about participating health services and clinical settings where medication errors occurred (N = 11,540)

From: Associations of person-related, environment-related and communication-related factors on medication errors in public and private hospitals: a retrospective clinical audit

Demographic information of public health service (seven hospitals)

Total number of beds

 

1500

Number of beds at each hospital

 

25–650

Number of admissions and presentations annually

 

500,000

Percentage of patients from non-English backgrounds

 

22

Key services include: emergency care, general medicine general surgery,, geriatric care, gynaecology, intensive care, medical oncology, mental health, obstetrics, orthopaedic surgery, outpatient care, rehabilitation, paediatrics and rehabilitation

Demographic information of private health service (nine hospitals)

Total number of bed

 

1550

Number of beds at each hospital

 

25–700

Number of admissions and presentations annually

 

240,000

Percentage of patients from non-English backgrounds

 

15

Key services include: emergency care, general medicine general surgery, gynaecology, intensive care, medical oncology, mental health, orthopaedic surgery, outpatient care, plastic and reconstructive health, rehabilitation, renal dialysis and rehabilitation and urology

Clinical setting

n

%

General medical unit

3233

28.0

Psychiatric unit

1255

10.9

Rehabilitation unit

1175

10.2

Oncology/Haematology unit

858

7.4

Pharmacy department

721

6.2

Emergency department

628

5.4

General surgical unit

607

5.3

Orthopaedics unit

442

3.8

Obstetrics/gynaecology unit

419

3.6

Cardiac/cardiothoracic unit

357

3.1

Renal/nephrology unit

266

2.3

Gastrointestinal unit

203

1.8

Vascular unit

200

1.7

Respiratory unit

171

1.5

Neurology unit

169

1.5

Plastics unit

161

1.4

Intensive care unit

158

1.4

Urology unit

134

1.2

Neurosurgical unit

121

1.0

Paediatric unit

66

0.6

Perioperative department

49

0.4

Outpatients department

48

0.4

Hospital in the Home

47

0.4

Radiology unit

34

0.3

Immunology and rheumatology unit

10

0.09

Short stay unit

6

0.05

Ophthalmology unit

2

0.02