Incidents in the context of pre-hospital care by ambulances: contributions to patient safety

OBJECTIVES: to analyze the occurrence of incidents in the context of mobile terrestrial pre-hospital care. METHODS: a descriptive research was carried out through the observation of 239 treatments performed by 22 healthcare professionals at the Mobile Emergency Care Service, located in Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fisher’s exact test and chi-square test were used for data analysis. RESULTS: the total time dedicated to patient care was 439.5 hours, during which 2386 security incidents were observed. The most notable ones were related to written communication (235), patient identification through bracelets (238), and safety in medication preparation (81). CONCLUSIONS: the need to promote and implement initiatives aimed at patient safety is evident, with special focus on international safety goals within the scope of mobile pre-hospital care services.