A recent study found that many life impacting mistakes are still being made in hospitals despite tighter controls being in place
The study was done from 2002 to 2007 in 10 North Carolina Hospitals. They wanted to see if the harm done to patients has decreased over time as they have implemented new procedures to keep from making so many mistakes. The study was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Included in the study were 2,300 patients randomly picked from the 10 different hospitals. They discovered that in 588 cases, the patients were somehow harmed by a procedure or medications.
Of those 588 harmed, 245 had temporary harm that required some extra attention. Fifty of the cases were life threatening, and 17 resulted in a permanent problem, while 14 died.
Dr. Christopher Landrigan, who led the team of researchers, said that even though the results were from his area, he suspects that this is happening nationwide.
Dr. Lucian Leape, who served as an adviser on the study said, “In order to change the way we do things, we have to work effectively as teams, and to become a good team is difficult in health care because that’s not how it’s set up, that’s not how we train our doctors.”
Just taking time to talk with doctors and asking about drug interactions, even asking if they have washed their hands can go a long way. Patients need to play a role and start asking questions.
