Acquisition of nosocomial and iatrogenic events during ICU admission increases costs dramatically.

Increased length of stay was associated independently with more iatrogenic events.

Rationale: Although intensive care units (ICUs) were created for patients with life-threatening illnesses, the ICU environment generates a high risk of iatrogenic events.

Objectives: The goals were to determine the incidence of iatrogenic events in NICUs and to determine whether awareness of iatrogenic events could influence their occurrence.

Only 1.6% of all iatrogenic events were intercepted before reaching the infants, and only 47.0% of iatrogenic events were corrected.

Eighty-three percent of iatrogenic events were considered preventable, of which 26.9% resulted from medical errors in ordering or delivery of medical care.