Medical Errors
As doctors, if we fail, it’s not something outside of us; it is us. We are the error. The shame is so powerful that most doctors will never come forward about an error - Riva Greenberg
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HWN Suggests
How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us
When there is a plane crash in the U.S., even a minor one, it makes headlines. There is a thorough federal investigation, and the tragedy often yields important lessons for the aviation industry. Pilots and airlines thus learn how to do their jobs more safely.
The world of American medicine is far deadlier: Medical mistakes kill enough people each week to fill four jumbo jets. But these mistakes go largely unnoticed by the world at large, and the medical community rarely learns from them. The same preventable mistakes are made over and over again, and patients are left in the dark about which hospitals have significantly better (or worse) safety records than their peers.
Featured
Medical errors still harm too many people but there are glimpses of real change
Your local hospital is almost certainly much more dangerous than it could be. The latest research says the “frequency of preventable harm remains high,” and danger in the doctor’s office and other outpatient settings is only now starting to be addressed.
Articles of Interest
The Dirty Secret About Medical Errors
As doctors, if we fail, it’s not something outside of us; it is us. We are the error. The shame is so powerful that most doctors will never come forward about an error.
Why Are Medical Mistakes Our Third Leading Cause of Death?
I spend a lot of time going around to different places warning professionals and the public that overdiagnosis, overtesting, and overtreatment are bad for our health.
Fatal mistakes
Doctors and nurses make thousands of deadly errors every year. They are reprimanded. Do they also deserve support?
How Many Die from Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals?
It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient's death, the numbers come out worse.
How to Make Hospitals Less Deadly
Few things are deadlier than doctors’ screw-ups. NASA’s chief toxicologist calculated in 2013 that medical error kills between 210,000 and 440,000 Americans each year. Only heart disease and cancer have a higher body count. Some progress has been made.
Medical Errors Have Become So Common That They Are Now a Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.
In a way, musician Tom Waits owes his iconic, gravelly purr to a medical error. Waits wasn't the victim of the error: It was his Uncle Vernon, whose raspy, important-sounding voice was the single most important influence on Waits’ developing style. Later, Waits learned that the reason Uncle Vernon’s voice was so distinctive was that he had once undergone a throat operation in which doctors left behind a small pair of scissors and gauze. “Years later, at Christmas dinner, Uncle Vernon started to choke while trying to dislodge an errant string bean, and he coughed up the gauze and the scissors,” Waits told Buzz magazine in 1993.
Medical Errors: Are We in Safe Hands?
Medical mistakes are usually something that people associate with health care in developing and low-income countries where they lack the right infrastructure and trained personnel. The fact is, a lot of medical mix ups and mistakes in hospitals and clinics occur all over the world, including Europe and North America.
Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
We have estimated that medical error is the third biggest cause of death in the US and therefore requires greater attention. Medical error leading to patient death is under-recognized in many other countries, including the UK and Canada.
Revised Hours and Workloads for Medical Residents Needed to Prevent Fatigue-Related Mistakes
Altering residents' work hours alone, however, is not a silver bullet for ensuring patient safety, stressed the committee of medical and scientific experts that wrote the report. The committee also called for greater supervision of residents by experienced physicians, limits on patient caseloads based on residents' levels of experience and specialty, and overlap in schedules during shift changes to reduce the chances for error during the handover of patients from one doctor to another.
The Alarming Rate of Errors in the ICU
Missed diagnoses may be present in more than a quarter of patients who die in hospital intensive care units, and they may result in the deaths of more people each year than breast cancer.
Resources
To Err Is Human
To Err Is Human breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequence--but not by pointing fingers at caring health care professionals who make honest mistakes. After all, to err is human. Instead, this book sets forth a national agenda--with state and local implications--for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system.
Voices for Safer Care
Voices for Safer Care serves as a forum for health care professionals, patients and others who are committed to ending preventable harm, improving patients’ outcomes and experiences, and reducing waste in health care. The “voices” are those of the clinicians, researchers and staff experts of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, as well as anyone who joins the dialogue.
Patient safety
Safety is a priority for your doctor and the other healthcare professionals involved in your treatment. In fact, everyone involved — including you — has a role in ensuring that your medical care is safe and effective.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Asking questions and providing information to your doctor and other care providers can improve your care. Talking with your doctor builds trust and leads to better results, quality, safety, and satisfaction.
Choosing Wisely
Choosing Wisely aims to promote conversations between clinicians and patients by helping patients choose care that is: Supported by evidence, Not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received, Free from harm, Truly necessary.
