Preventable medical errors

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a general acceptance, a medical error occurs when a health-care provider chose an inappropriate method of care or the health provider chose the right solution of care but carried it out incorrectly.

In practice the term "medical errors" is often preceded by the modifier "preventable." Medical world accepts that there are some medical errors for which preventability is rarely questioned. The list includes medical errors such as wrong site surgery , administering the wrong medication when the correct one was ordered, or transplanting organs of the wrong blood type. On the other hand, there are and less preventable medical errors such as case studies reported in journals, where one or more experts review the treatment decisions of a clinician and conclude that the clinician's judgment was incorrect.

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[edit] The nature and extent of preventable medical errors

Despite remarkable progress in health care technology and delivery, too many patients die or are injured as a consequence of medical errors. A study focusing 2002-2004 hospitalization in US reveals that about 83,000 potentially preventable deaths occurred each year. Beside hospitals, medical also occur in other health care settings such as clinics, physicians' offices, pharmacies, nursing homes, urgent care centers and the care delivered in the home. [1]


  • The Commonwealth Fund, 2002 suggests that One in five Americans (22%) report that they or a family member have experienced a medical error of some kind.
  • The Office of the Medical Inspector at the Veterans Administration (VA) reported a total of 2,927 medical errors from June 1997 to December 1998, more than 700 of which resulted in accidental patient deaths or suicides.
  • According to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2002, about 7,000 people are estimated to die each year from medication errors - about 16 percent more deaths than the number attributable to work-related injuries (6,000 deaths).
  • Findings of Institute of Medicine, 1999 appreciate that in all US hospitals, the increased costs of preventable medication errors costs the economy about $2 billion each year.[2]

[edit] The most common causes of preventable medical errors

The next list of potential causes is not exclusive, but it does cover the main areas and most medical errors could be avoided if the doctors, nurses, dentists and other practitioners took more care.

  • Diagnostic errors. This type of error could be a direct mistake of a doctor or caused when the doctor is acting on incorrect information supplied by some other person.
  • Inappropriate communication between various medical service providers.
  • Incorrect record keeping
  • Errors in prescribing medication.
  • Overwork and tiredness of medical staff called on to perform extra duties.
  • Lack of more safe guards or checking points of healthcare system. [3]

An important conclusion of the above list is that the medical errors often result as a consequence of many factors.

[edit] Medical errors and medical malpractice

According to a 2005 study of 39 million patient records, 241,280 deaths during Medicare hospitalizations were attributable to one or more common preventable medical errors. In each year from 2001 through 2003, the study found that the number of medical errors or "patient safety incidents" at America's hospitals was approximately 1.18 million, with a cost to Medicare of nearly $3 billion annually. [4]

[edit] Most common preventable medical errors leading to malpractice

The federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that 18 categories of medical errors, such as postoperative infections, accidental reopening of surgical wounds, and medical objects left inside patients, result in 32,500 hospital deaths, cost $9.3 billion in additional hospital charges, and lead to over 2.4 million extra days spent in hospitals

  • Misdiagnosis of an illness, failure to diagnose or delay of a diagnosis
  • Birth Injuries
  • Oxygen deprivation is one major cause and so it mechanical trauma. This may occur when the baby assumes an unusual position at the time of birth or when the baby is too large to pass through the birth canal easily.
  • Surgical Complications
  • Mishandling of medications
  • Prescription Errors
  • Failure of hospital staff or a pharmacist to dispense the right medicine to the right patient in the correct amount
  • Inappropriate or substandard treatment
  • Failure to provide treatment
  • Failure to follow-up on a patient
  • Failure to informed consent
  • Anesthesia-related complications
  • Failure to safely administer anesthesia
  • Failure to prevent patient injuries ( such as falls ) on medical facility property
  • Failure to follow Advance Directive An advance directive tells your doctor what kind of care you would like to have if you become unable to make medical decisions.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]HealthGrades Third Annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study April 2006
  2. ^ [2]About Medical Errors
  3. ^ [3]To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, 2000, Institute of Medicine
  4. ^ [4] HealthGrades, Medical Errors Gap Widens Between Best and Worst Hospitals: Healthgrades Study, (May 2005)

[edit] External links

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