Medical Errors
A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is
evident or harmful to the patient.
This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury,
syndrome, behavior, infection.
According to a study, medical mistakes kill more than 250,000 people every year.
Most common medical errors:
1. Misdiagnosis:
Error in diagnosis is a common medical error. Incorrect diagnosis can result in unnecessary
or harmful treatment. A wrong diagnosis also means that the patient’s true illness won’t be
treated right away, if at all, prolonging the patient’s suffering.
2. Delayes in treatment :
Delays in treatment can lead to poor patient outcomes including death. In some cases, a
delay in treatment can lead to permanent deficits.
3. Medication Error:
One of the most common mistakes that occurs in the course of medical treatment is an error
in medication,
Medication errors are broadly defined as any error in the prescribing, dispensing, or
administration of a drug.
4. Infection
from the hospital to you. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
hospital-acquired infections affect 1.7 million people every year. These include pneumonias,
infections around the site of surgery, urinary infections from catheters, and bloodstream
infections from IVs.
5.Lab errors
Medical errors can also be seen in the lab department. Lab errors can be truly devastating
as they can lead to wrong diagnosis, as well as wrong treatment.
6.Equipment failure
Not very common, but equipment medical and diagnostic tools that are not in proper working
condition or have dead batteries can lead to serious injury or death.
7.Missed warning signs.
When patients get worse, there is usually a period of minutes to hours where there are
warning signs. You may feel worse, and there are often changes in your heart rate, blood
pressure, and other measurements. Unfortunately, these warning signs are frequently
missed, so that by the time they are finally noticed, there could have been irreversible
damage.
The most common causes for Medical Errors:
1.Communication Problems:
Communication breakdowns are the most common causes of medical errors.these issues
can arise in a medical practice or a healthcare system and can occur between a physician,
nurse, healthcare team member, or patient. Poor communication lead to medical errors.
2.Human Problems:
Human problems occur when standards of care, policies, processes, or procedures are not
followed properly or efficiently.
3.Technical Failures
Technical failures can include complications or failures with medical devices, implants,
grafts, or pieces of equipment.
4. Inadequate nursing home staff
Many nursing facilities do not have enough staff members to adequately treat every patient.
This often leads to staff members experiencing exhaustion, which results in inattention.
5.Errors when writing or reading prescriptions
A doctor may write down the wrong prescription, or a pharmacist may pick the wrong drugs
from the shelf.Even if the doctor writes down the correct medication, he or she may write 10
milligrams instead of 1.0. Another possibility is a pharmacist misreading a prescription due to
illegible handwriting.
The effects of Medical errors:
1. Increase length of stay.
2. Increased cost.
3. Patient disability.
4. Death Nurse's personal and professional status, confidence, and
practice.
How to preventing medical errors:
By Nurses:
1-Practice Good Communication.
As the gatekeepers of patient care, nurses must be savvy in nurse communication skills.
2-Clarify Orders.
3-Limit Overtime.
4-Ensure Adequate Staffing.
By patient:
1.Make sure all of doctors know about every medicine patient are taking.
2.Bring all of patient medicines and supplements to doctors visits.
3.Make sure patient doctor knows about any allergic and adverse reactions you have.
4.When doctors writes a prescribe make sure you can read it.
5.Ask for more information about your medicines.
Finally, if you do make a mistake, don’t try to cover it up. Follow your facilities policy for
reporting mistakes. Trying to cover up a mistake can harm a patient, hurt your reputation and
even cost you your job.
