[What tasks should committees have for evaluating injuries to patients?]

Committees were established in 1983 to evaluate injury to patients in hospitals, in order to give an account of the course of events and the causal relation when damage does occur or patients forward complaints. The article reports on the work done at Haukeland hospital from 1984 to 1989. 472 cases of injury were reported. Many of these cases could have been prevented by better communication between doctor and patient. The number of cases reported to the Committee has increased considerably in recent years. At Haukeland hospital about one man-year is spent on work in the committee. After 1988 an increasing amount of the cases are cleared up by the Norwegian System of Compensation for Injuries to Patients. In the future the Committees for evaluation of injuries to patients in hospitals should work mainly to improve the reporting of such injuries, in order to ensure that patients receive adequate information, and to register injuries and accidents at each hospital.