There is of course no doubt about the benefits hospitals provide to people when they are sick or injured. That said, there are many things that can go wrong at a hospital leading to a person becoming more seriously ill or dying while a patient.
No hospital wants this to happen to its patients and many have established standardized methods that are designed to try to reduce the number of problems that occur. Despite this, medical errors and other problems in care persist. According to a study that appeared in Health Affairs in April of 2011, the methods hospitals put into place actually failed more than 90 percent of the time.
Though the list of hospital errors that could go occur is long, it includes:
- Infections
- Medication errors
- Cardiac arrests
- Surgical errors
- Complications after surgery
- Acquisition of pressure ulcers
- Serious falls
One chief medical officer at a children's hospital believes the key to reducing these medical errors and problems is simple: the commitment to eliminate them. To that end, the hospital at which he works has put the safety of each patient at the center of every protocol it undertakes. The hospital tracks the injuries that do occur and how they happened. Each is reviewed and often leads to some sort of change. The goal is to completely eliminate any harm that is preventable to patients by 2013. So far, they have cut the number in half.
Other medical centers have tried different approaches. One located on the west coast adopted a model utilized by Toyota in the construction of vehicles. That approach encourages all, regardless of their role, to do what they can to catch and stop small problems before they grow and become difficult to deal with.
Some consumers have stepped up to provide their feelings on the matter. Former US Airways Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III is seeking to transfer the efforts he made it making air travel safer to medicine. He is one of several who advocate for the creation of something similar to the National Transportation Safety Board in the medical field.
What are your thoughts on these approaches? Do you have any suggestions on how to reduce the preventable harm patients encounter at hospitals?
Source: Huffington Post, "Medical Errors Harm Huge Number of Patients," Steve Sternberg, Aug. 29, 2012