Latrogenic pneumothorax (IP) is an inherent risk to patients who undergo procedures that involve the intentional puncturing of the lung. IP also could occur accidentally to patients who do not undergo such procedures; such accidental IP (AIP) is suggestive of lapses in safe care. This study including HIP Investigator Dr. Maureen Smith assessed the risk for AIP in patients hospitalized with specific diagnoses who underwent specific procedures.
They analyzed 7.5 million discharge abstracts from 994 short-term acute care hospitals across 28 states in 2000 and found that although AIP is most common after thoracentesis, it is a substantial threat to patients undergoing a wide range of procedures.
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