Incidence and risk factors for incidents in intensive care patients

Objective: to estimate the incidence and identify the risk factors for incidents in patients of an intensive care center. Methods: this is a longitudinal, prospective, analytical, and exploratory study with 173 patients admitted to the intensive care unit. The incidents were categorized as clinical process/procedure, care associated infections, behavior, documentation, medication/intravenous fluids, nutrition, blood products, accidents, and medical equipment. Results: the incidence density was 134.45 incidents per 1,000 patient-days, highlighting the main categories: clinical process/procedure (71.5%) and care-related infections (15.3%). Length of stay in the intensive care unit (Risk ratio: 1.03; Confidence interval: 1.01-1.05; p=0.000) and use of central venous catheter (Risk ratio 1.02; Confidence interval: 1.00-1.04; p=0.040) were identified as risk factors. Conclusion: there was a high occurrence of incidents in the intensive care unit, especially in patients with longer hospital stay and use of central venous catheters. Contributions to practice: identifying incidents and associated risk factors will allow managers and professionals to recognize patients at higher risk and implement measures to ensure systematic and quality care to minimize the occurrence of adverse events in the institution.