Table 2

Percentages and CIs of main categories of root causes for all units and per unit type

Root cause type (main category)Emergency medicine
N=845
Surgery
N=1250
Internal medicine
N=920
Total
N=3015
Human*†‡60.2 (56.9 to 63.7)72.1 (69.7 to 74.6)76.7 (74.7 to 79.4)70.2 (68.6 to 71.8)
Organisational†‡25.0 (21.7 to 28.4)16.1 (13.7 to 18.6)11.8 (9.2 to 14.5)17.3 (15.7 to 18.9)
Technical†‡10.8 (7.5 to 14.2)5.7 (3.3 to 8.2)5.1 (2.5 to 7.7)6.9 (5.3 to 8.6)
Patient related/other*†4.0 (0.7 to 7.4)6.2 (3.8 to 8.6)6.3 (3.7 to 8.9)5.6 (4.0 to 7.3)
Total100100100100
  • *Significant difference between emergency medicine and surgery; p<0.05.

  • †Significant difference between emergency medicine and internal medicine; p<0.05.

  • ‡Significant difference between surgery and internal medicine; p<0.05.