Reduce Medical Errors

One of the recommendations for healthcare organizations to employ in an effort to reduce the number of errors is to advocate for voluntary error reporting nationally while conducting research and developing tools for patient safety. This way, information about errors can be gathered and prevented from reoccurring at health care sites and by health care providers. Voluntary error reporting will act as a warning of potential or actual errors and suggest ways to avoid them in the future.

There are two common ways to handle a medical error. One is by blaming the individual or things when the error occurs, called it the “culture of blame”. The other one is by focusing on the safety goal using effective systems and teamwork, called “culture of safety". We may say that one is more applicable than the other, or maybe one is more beneficial than the other. In real life though, only one can be applied in a healthcare system, the one that is proven effective regardless its origin, pragmatic, or .

The main objective of healthcare professionals is to provide the best quality of patient care and the highest level of patient safety. To achieve that objective, there are many organizations that help improve the quality of care. One of the best examples is the Joint Commission. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is not free from total risks. In healthcare activities, there are possible errors, mistakes, near miss and adverse events. All of those negative events are preventable. But, it is clear that errors caused in healthcare result in thousands of deaths in the United States.

It is shocking to know that every year 98000 patients die from medical errors that can be prevented(Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J. M., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.), 2000). Medical errors are not a new issue in our healthcare system; these have been around for a long time. Hospitals have been trying to improve quality care and patients safety by implementing different strategies to prevent and reduce medical errors for past thirty years. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in America (Allen, 2013). In addition medical errors are costing our healthcare system an estimated $735 billion to $980 billion (Andel, Davidow, Hollander, & Moreno, 2012).

Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency

November, 1999 brought about a release of a report prepared by the prestigious National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine (IOM) making medical mistakes and their magnitude of the risks to patients receiving hospital care to common public knowledge. The IOM concluded that between 44,000-98,000 deaths occur annually because of medical errors. Among a general agreement was that system deficiencies were the most important factor in the problem and not incompetent or negligent physicians and other caregivers (Sultz & Young, 2010). An excellent example of a system deficiency that leads to a crisis and sentinel event was the highly publicized overdose of Heparin to Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins in 2007.

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.

Whenever there is an error or miss reporting allows for analysis and identification of potential errors, which can help in improving and sharing of information for safer patient care (Glynda Rees Doyle, 2016).

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.”

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)

Medical mistakes have been extensively discussed throughout nursing school. Nursing institutions hope that by the end of the program, new nurses are able to provide safe patient care. As we move through our career, we experience the changes in medicine. There are many advances that have improved health care practice; however, there is an increased fascination with new technologies and treatments that takes away from traditional patient care.

During the daily operations of any healthcare organization, there is a multitude of potential problems that could occur in the delivery of services. Administration must develop effective strategies to minimize risks, and continually improve performance and quality within a healthcare organization. The following is a selection of case studies that illustrate potential risks to healthcare organizations and the programs that were developed to improve quality and performance while ensuring the overall success of the organization. These case studies will provide real-life examples of potential issues that this administration should consider when developing a risk management, performance, and quality program in order to ensure the overall success of the organization.

The article that caught my eye is named Errors in Health Care: A Leading Cause of Death and Injury. For many years the leading cause of death in hospitals have been medical errors or related errors as such. However, errors occur frequently within hospitals with results that are harmful and costly. Some of the top hospitals were observed, and the results concluded that due to so many adverse drug events it costs the hospital over 50 billion dollars. Nevertheless, an error occurs when an individual fails to complete a corrective action or utilizes the wrong plan to achieve care. Therefore, the questions that an administrator or leaders within the hospital need to be asking is what are the contributing factors to the errors, what are the frequency

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

Reporting errors can strengthen the processes of care and also enhance the quality of care. To effectively avoid further errors that can cause harm to patients, improvements must be made on the incidents or events reported in reporting system. Reporting errors can help the organizations better understand what happened, identify the factors that cause the occurrence of errors or incidents, determine its frequency and predict whether it could happen again and find an intervention to prevent or to