20 Tips
to Help Prevent Medical Errors
The
following information was provided by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Medical errors are one of the Nation's leading
causes of death and injury. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine
estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year
as the result of medical errors. This means that more people die from medical
errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.
Government agencies, purchasers of group health
care, and health care providers are working together to make the U.S. health
care system safer for patients and the public. This fact sheet tells what you
can do.
What
are Medical Errors?
Medical errors happen when something that was planned as
a part of medical care doesn't work out, or when the wrong plan was used in the
first place. Medical errors can occur anywhere in the health care system:
Errors
can involve
-
Medicines
-
Surgery
-
Diagnosis
-
Equipment
-
Lab
reports
They
can happen during even the most routine tasks, such as when a hospital patient
on a salt-free diet is given a high-salt meal.
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