EyeWitness Summer 2010 - 22

Forty-two percent of respondents had been affected by a medical error, either personally or through a friend or relative. n Thirty-two percent of the respondents indicated that the error had a permanent negative effect on the patient’s health. Overall, the respondents to this survey thought the health care system was “moderately safe” (rated a 4.9 on a 1 to 7 scale, where 1 is not safe at all and 7 is very safe). Another survey, conducted by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, found that Americans are “very concerned” about: n Being given the wrong medicine (61 percent). n Being given two or more medicines that interact in a negative way (58 percent). n Complications from a medical procedure (56 percent). Most people believe that medical errors are the result of the failures of individual providers. When asked in a survey about possible solutions to medical errors: n Seventy-five percent of respondents thought it would be most effective to “keep health professionals with bad track records from providing care.” n Sixty-nine percent thought the problem could be solved through “better training of health professionals.” This fear of medical errors was borne out by the interest and attention that the IOM report generated. According
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to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 51 percent of Americans followed closely the release of the IOM report on medical errors.

It’s a Systems Problem
The IOM emphasized that most of the medical errors are systems related and not attributable to individual negligence or misconduct. The key to reducing medical errors is to focus on improving the systems of delivering care and not to blame individuals. Health care professionals are simply human and, like everyone else, they make mistakes. But research has shown that system improvements can reduce the error rates and improve the quality of health care: n A 1999 study indicated that including a pharmacist on medical rounds reduced the errors related to medication ordering by 66 percent, from 10.4 per 1,000 patient days to 3.5 per 1,000 patient days. n The specialty of anesthesia has reduced its error rate by nearly sevenfold, from 25 to 50 per million to 5.4 per million, by using standardized guidelines and protocols, standardizing equipment, etc. n One hospital in the Department of Veterans Affairs uses hand-held, wireless computer technology and barcoding, which has cut overall hospital medication error rates by 70 percent. This system is soon to be implemented in all VA hospitals.

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EyeWitness Summer 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EyeWitness Summer 2010