In 1711 when Alexander Pope wrote "To err is human" he probably wasn't thinking about medical errors resulting in harm to the patient.
The commonly quoted phrase "at least do no harm" attributed to Hippocrates was really "first do no harm" and really originated in the late 18th century with English surgeon Thomas Inman.
But the issue of hurting, not helping, the patient has been around for centuries.
An oft quoted study in 1999 suggested hospital medical errors resulted in 98,000 patient deaths a year. However, that report is based on incomplete data that does not take into consideration more recent information.
A new study published in the Journal of Patient Safety says incidents of patient death due to medical error may be as high as 400,000 deaths a year. (That's the high end of the estimate to get your attention)
"The new study reveals that each year preventable adverse events (PAEs) lead to the death of 210,000-400,000 patients who seek care at a hospital. Those figures would make medical errors the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics."
My first thought is that's a pretty broad range, 210,000 to 400,000, and perhaps exaggerated for shock purposes. My second thought is if you are 1 of 210,000 or 1 of 400,000, either way, it can't get much worse.
What can I, the patient, do to prevent disastrous medical mistakes? CNN compiled the following list of ten things you can do to prevent serious medical errors.
The commonly quoted phrase "at least do no harm" attributed to Hippocrates was really "first do no harm" and really originated in the late 18th century with English surgeon Thomas Inman.
But the issue of hurting, not helping, the patient has been around for centuries.
An oft quoted study in 1999 suggested hospital medical errors resulted in 98,000 patient deaths a year. However, that report is based on incomplete data that does not take into consideration more recent information.
A new study published in the Journal of Patient Safety says incidents of patient death due to medical error may be as high as 400,000 deaths a year. (That's the high end of the estimate to get your attention)
"The new study reveals that each year preventable adverse events (PAEs) lead to the death of 210,000-400,000 patients who seek care at a hospital. Those figures would make medical errors the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics."
My first thought is that's a pretty broad range, 210,000 to 400,000, and perhaps exaggerated for shock purposes. My second thought is if you are 1 of 210,000 or 1 of 400,000, either way, it can't get much worse.
What can I, the patient, do to prevent disastrous medical mistakes? CNN compiled the following list of ten things you can do to prevent serious medical errors.
- Treating the wrong patient. Before procedures, patients should ask hospital staff to verify their entire name and date of birth, as well as the barcode on their hospital bracelet.
- Leaving a piece of equipment inside a patient's body during surgery. If a patient feels unexpected pain, swelling, or fever, they should ask staff whether they might have a surgical instrument in their body.
- Losing a patient with dementia. Family and friends of patients with dementia should consider using GPS tracking bracelets if the patient tends to wander frequently. There are cases of patients with dementia wandering off without the knowledge of hospital staff and later dying of hypothermia or dehydration.
- Con artists pretending to be physicians. Patients should always confirm that a physician is licensed using resources available online or elsewhere.
- Becoming more ill while waiting in the ED. Patients in overcrowded EDs may wait hours to see a physician and must be proactive if they need immediate care. Patients should call their physician on the way to the ED and ask them to alert the hospital staff.
- Allowing air bubbles to enter the bloodstream when a chest tube is removed.Patients should ask staff about proper body positioning before having a chest tube removed.
- Operating on the wrong body part. Charts can be incorrect or surgeons can misread them, so patients should confirm the surgical site with the nurse and surgeon before the procedure.
- Acquiring an infection because of poor staff hygiene. Although it is an uncomfortable question, patients should ask physicians and nurses if they have properly washed their hands before being touched—even if they are wearing gloves.
- Putting medicine in the wrong tube. Patients should ask staff to trace every tube back to the point of origin when injecting substances to avoid errors.
- Failing to give a patient sufficient anesthesia. Patients may want to ask if a local anesthetic would work as efficiently as general anesthesia (Bonifield/Cohen, CNN, 11/5).
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