Información de eventos adversos a pacientes y familiares

Objective: Perform a literature review on incidents and adverse events open disclosure to patients and relatives, as well as to review major policies, institutional guides and legal aspects related to this process. Material and method: Different electronic and paper sources were consulted; Pub-med was used as main search engine. Results: The health system must find a way of meeting the needs and expectations of patients, emotional support and information on the event when an adverse event occurs through care. Ethical and professional guidelines set out the professionals and institutions responsibility of revealing the mistakes made during the health care. There are many barriers that make it difficult to carry out this complex process. The training of professionals and the development of institutional guides can encourage compliance. The legal aspects should be dealt with at local level and to assess the real impact of a specific legislative development on the effectiveness of the process. Conclusion: In our area, there are no specific recommendations in relation to the adverse event information to patients and relatives. Required consensus proposals that respond in a scientific and multidisciplinary manner to this question with important connotations both ethical and legal.