Work

Estimating risk when zero events have been observed

Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Assessing the risk of complications or adverse events following an intervention presents challenges when they have not yet occurred. Suppose, for instance, a chronic shortage of cardiac telemetry beds has prompted a hospital to implement a new policy that places low-risk patients admitted to ‘rule out myocardial infarction’ in regular ward beds (ie, with no telemetry). After 6 months and the admission of 100 such patients, no cardiac arrests or other untoward events have occurred. This absence of harm (ie, zero adverse events) indicates a low risk, but clearly we cannot infer a risk of zero on the basis of only 100 patients. But, what can we say about the true underlying risk?
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2108679540
FWCI:
Cites: 4
Cited by: 11
Related to: 10