Good hospitals project professionalism. Discipline. Precision. Consistency.
But good hospitals – all hospitals – make mistakes.
It’s inevitable.
And forgivable – so long as doctors, nurses and staff continue working hard to minimize risk.
“From the wrong medication to the wrong dosage, I think it’s fair to say that errors happen every day in every hospital across America,” said Lisa George, compliance officer at Providence Everett Medical Center.
At least 1.5 million Americans are sickened, injured or killed by medical mistakes each year, according to a major report released last week. Experts from the Institute of Medicine found that, on average, a patient will be subject to a medication error each day he or she occupies a hospital bed.
Frightened yet?
Drug errors cause at least 400,000 injuries and deaths in hospitals each year, experts estimate. Realistically, experts say, it’s worse than that.
On the other hand, many drug-related injuries are preventable. A pharmacist might misread a prescription request scribbled out by hand; two tired nurses switching shifts might misplace a chart; unintentionally, a patient’s dose might be doubled. All this despite the fact that medical workers are trained to check and double-check.
“No caregiver in America goes to work and says ‘I’m going to harm someone today,’” said Paula Bradlee, Providence’s director of organizational quality. “But a lot can go wrong.”
Hospitals have known about and tracked medical errors for some time. Now they must step up prevention. Introducing modern technology to the prescription process is a sensible step.
Providence is already halfway there – three years into a farsighted electronic retrofit. Rather than send handwritten notes to the pharmacy, Providence doctors will use “computerized physician order entry.”
At bedside, they’ll enter prescriptions into a portable computer. If they’ve made a mistake a warning screen will appear.
Providence has also embarked on a course of culture change. Administrators want mistakes reported right away. Then, they want to see action.
“In the past, people were punished for reporting an error,” Bradlee said. “Now we understand it’s about the system as a whole.”
Providence recently adopted a more transparent error-reporting mechanism. And these days, when an error occurs, specialists are supposed to arrive within five minutes.
Experts hope last week’s frightening findings will empower patients as well. Too often, crisp lab coats and sterile scrubs afford patients a false sense of security.
“We want to get patients involved,” Bradlee said.
To that end, Providence has admirably formed a Patient-Community Advisory Council. Its No. 1 recommendation for concerned hospital patients: Ask questions.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
