Patient Identification Errors In Healthcare

Even though I am an advocate for the electronic health record there are drawbacks to the system. Each individual physician will have to determine if the drawbacks are worth the advantages of the system. One of the drawbacks to the system is privacy. Privacy will always be a big factor. Some patients may not like the idea of having their medical information easily accessible by almost anybody. (The HWN Team, 2009) Electronic health records

Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer. More than 200,000 people die annually as a result of diagnostic mistakes and negligence by healthcare professionals (Washingtonpost, 2016). In the healthcare industry, even the smallest mistakes and oversight could lead to severe consequences for both the patient and professionals. A healthcare professional would be held liable for any discrepancies that causes harm. The following case will analyze the ethical issue and negligence that lead to the death of an elderly woman.

Reducing the incidence of medical error by improving the accuracy and clarity of medical records.

Thousands of incidents of wrong patient and wrong side/site surgeries occur every year in the United States. In general, patient identification errors (PIE) pose the most dramatic consequences that may even lead to patient death. While some PIE lead to taking the wrong medication, others lead to reporting the wrong laboratory or radiological reports to the wrong patient. Interestingly, these drastic scenarios can simply be prevented by following the patient identification protocols which usually rely on using two identifiers or more according to the policy in use. This paper uses the root cause analysis to identify possible actual causes that contribute to the recurrence of PIEs with special highlight to the emergency and surgery rooms. It

Causes of major medical errors have many different factors and influences. This includes why the patient was being seen to allow such an error, what medical guideline or guideline’s that where not followed that caused the error, what could have been done by staff members to prevent the error, etc. When errors take place, repercussions follow such as the cost incurred to the patient or patient family members, fines the medical worker must pay, and most importantly what is the patients status/prognosis. Not all patients prevail and make it through such awful medical errors.

Each year medical errors cause more than 400,000 American deaths and at least 10-20 times that number experience serious harm. Researchers say that is equivalent to “three 747 airplanes crashing each day.” Medical errors rank as the third-leading cause of death in America. Therefore, patient safety is a national concern.

The Institute of Medicine released a report in 1999 titled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System concerning the number of medical error related deaths. The report states that between 44,000 and 98,000 medical error related deaths occur each year in hospitals across the country (Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S., 2000) In response to this report, the Institute of Medicine released Crossing the Quality Chasm: Health: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century that outlines six aims for the future of the healthcare system: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, equitable (Institute of Medicine, 2001). These aims set to establish the quality of healthcare across the country. Quality is defined by the Institute of Medicine as ““the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge” (2001).

The third leading cause of death in America may surprise you. Hospitals and healthcare organizations dedicate their branding to reflect a place of hope, comfort, and healing when ones health is compromised. Sadly, medical errors do exists in the realm of healthcare. The National Center for Biotechnology Information defines medical error as “an act of omission or commission in planning or execution that contributes to or could contribute to an unintended result.” Medical errors may include incorrect record keeping, administering incorrect medication to a patient, misdiagnosis, failing to remove all surgical instruments and performing surgery on the incorrect site. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality identified eight factors that contribute to the cause of medical errors. These factors include “communication problems, inadequate information flow, human problems, patient-related issues, organizational transfer of knowledge, staffing patterns, technical failures and inadequate policies and procedures.”

Identity theft can be divided into several categories and, unfortunately, this fast growing crime already reached our medical records. This kind of identity theft, classified as medical identity theft, can easily be done because there are also several persons, whether authorized or unauthorized, who can access our medical records that contains necessary and confidential information. These people can be anyone, from physicians to other medical personnel or even some other persons who really want your medical identity.

Medical errors are avoidable mistakes in the health care. These errors can take place in any type of health care institution. Medical errors can happen during medical tests and diagnosis, administration of medications, during surgery, and even lab reports, such as the mixing of two patients’ blood samples. These errors are usually caused by the lack of communication between doctors, nurses and other staff. A medical error could cause a severe consequence to the patient in cases consisting of severe injuries or cause/effect any health conditions, and even death. According to recent studies medical errors are not the third leading cause of death in the United States. (Walerius. 2016)

Mistakes are made in the healthcare field every day and there are a few ways that this can be prevented. We are going to discuss different ways to decrease the chances of errors for the safety of our patients. Every facility has or should have, somewhere in the building, a copy of the national patient safety goals and it is important that you know what they are and where to find them. As we navigate through the goals that are to be discussed, we will touch on a few that are very important from reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections to improving the accuracy of resident identification. With all this in mind we can greatly reduce the risk we put or patients in every day.

By ensuring patients are fully informed about procedures with risks and benefits, the consequences of minor errors are drastically reduced. Though Baylis (1997) admits that many professionals believe that disclosure of errors leads to loss of confidence in the physician or even medicine in general, this is usually false. According to Matlow, et al. (2006), “the preference for full disclosure is almost universal.” This thought goes hand-in-hand with informed consent. Patients wish to be autonomous, especially regarding their health, and to withhold information diminishes their autonomy and trust in the physician. In addition, to assuage professional opinions, Popp (2003) found that admission of error typically reduced the financial liability of a hospital drastically compared to when no disclosure was present. This honesty also leads to a discussion of causes for the error rather and potential improvements to avoid the same outcome for future cases. Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conferences at hospitals seek to do the same thing and simultaneously educate many in the field to reduce stigma of equating error with personal flaws (Matlow, et al.,

I was in a similar situation; I charted on the wrong patient due to multiple patient records opened at time. I caught my mistake before I saved my documentation. Now, I make sure to have one patient health record open a time. I also double check before I chart and before I save my documentation to make sure it is the right patient. Wrong information entered into the health information technology systems can threaten patient safety (Joint Commission, 2015). For example, entering the wrong vital signs on a patient that is getting blood pressure medication with strict parameters can cause severe hypotension. As nurses, we must report health information technology and near missed

In today's modern world with plenty of technology, it is hard to believe that we cannot figure out how to reduce Medical errors. The issue of medical error is not new in health care organizations. It has been in spot light since 1990's, when government did research on sudden increase in number of death in the hospitals. According to Lester, H., & Tritter, J. (2001), "Medical error is an actual or potential serious lapse in the standard of care provided to a patient, or harm caused to a patient through the performance of a health service or health care professional." Medical errors

In today’s medical field technology plays a big role when it comes to patient care. Technology is huge when it comes to giving the patient the best type of quality care when they are in the hospital. In the old days people would just write it down on a sheet of paper and record it by hand, which caused mistakes. Now with the Electronic Health Record those mistakes are drastically declining. Statistics have shown that using the Electronic Health Record has lowered Nursing mistakes as well as improved patient care. Our society has progressed through the years and has been introduced with the Electronic Health Record which has drastically improved our health care system. The Electronic Health Record provides great communication between