FRANCO PUGLIESEFRANCO PUGLIESE How big is the problem?How big is the problem? •USA – errors by HCWs affect about 3-4% patients • mean of 7% ADEs • >7,000 ADE deaths / year• 2 million nosocomial infections / year • average ICU patient experiences almost 2 errors per day – each year, 44,000 - 98,000 deaths due to medical errors – annual cost of medical errors: US$29 billion