Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Sociotechnical Aspects: Clinicians and Technology
Lecture:Medical errors
Patient safety
Slide content:Medical Errors A 1964 study by Schimmel , published in the Annals of Internal Medicine , reported that 20% of patients admitted to a university hospital medical service suffered iatrogenic injury 20% of those injuries were serious or fatal In the United States, medical errors are estimated to result in 44,000 to 98,000 unnecessary inpatient deaths annually (Kohn et al., 1999) A recent evidence-based study estimates the number of deaths resulting from medical errors is at least 210,000 and as high as 440,000 (James, 2013) 5
Slide notes:Medical errors have probably existed for as long as patient care and health care providers have been around. As far back as 1964, a study reported that twenty percent of patients admitted to a university hospital medical service suffered iatrogenic [eye- at - tro - jen -ick] injury, which means an injury caused by a medical procedure, and that twenty percent of those injuries were either serious or fatal. The 1999 landmark report from the Institute of Medicine, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, pointed out that medical errors in the United States are estimated to cause between forty-four thousand and ninety-eight thousand unnecessary inpatient deaths annually. One estimate has suggested that there may be as many as one million excess injuries each year as a consequence of medical errors. In the years since this report, medical error statistics continue to reflect the need to focus on reducing medical errors. A recent evidence-based study found in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates the number of deaths resulting from medical errors is at least 210,000 and as high as 440,000 (James, 2013). This would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death, behind heart disease and cancer. While advances in clinical therapeutics have undoubtedly resulted in major improvements in health for patients with many diseases, they have also been accompanied by increased risks. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, [quote] An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication, and ADEs account for nearly seven-hundred thousand emergency department visits and one-hundred thousand hospitalizations each year. [end quote] ADEs affect nearly five percent of hospitalized patients, [quote] making them one of the most common types of inpatient errors; ambulatory patients may experience ADEs at even higher rates. Transitions in care are also a well-documented source of preventable harm related to medications. [end quote] Preventable medical errors are also a major global health concern that for too long has been accepted as inevitable, according to a 2015 report by the World Innovation Summit for Health. 5