Medical errors are major problems in public health and safety, which account for a large number of deaths in the United States. According to Rodziewicz and Hipskind (2020), medical errors affect around 400,000 inpatients every year, with approximate deaths of 100,000 people and costing around 20 billion dollars. Consequently, the medical error problem is so challenging especially in uncovering the causes of the problem, and the provision of a solution that is viable in minimizing the probability of the events reoccurring.
A medical error can refer to failure in completing a planned action as projected or the application of a wrong plan in achieving an objective or aim (Sorra et al., 2016). All problems in the medical procedures, practices, products, and systems are errors (Sorra et al., 2016). Common problems occurring during the healthcare processes include; improper transfusions, diagnosis delays, misdiagnosis, mistaken identities among patients, adverse drug events, wrong-site surgeries under-treatment.
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Many medical errors occur in fast-paced, stressful environments such as in the operating rooms, the intensive care units, and the emergency departments. Rodziewicz and Hipskind (2020) highlight events of high acuity, extreme age, and new procedures being highly related to medical errors. Medical errors can occur due to many people involved in one case, lack of specialized personnel when the need arises, and due to a preoperative assessment that is incomplete (WHO, 2016). Nonetheless, inadequate supervision of interns and students due to time constraints together with postoperative monitoring practices that are inconsistent can lead to errors.
Despite the health professionals' efforts in saving countless lives, the concomitant error incidences are persisting. Sorra et al. (2016) emphasize on the need for healthcare personnel to work towards ensuring they do not harm patients then focus on minimizing system and human error. Medical errors are preventable through the modification of the healthcare system to ensure that healthcare professionals are more likely to perform the correct actions (Rodziewicz & Hipskind, 2020). Revision on the culture and system is necessary for the accountability aspect of individual errors to ensure the reporting of errors results in an improvement in the system instead of personal punishment.
Structured initiatives focusing on education, training, and teamwork provide the most effective means of improving patient safety. Significant effects in staff and patient safety are achievable through a reduction in the barriers to error reporting, accepting every team member's contribution, and development of a work environment that encourages teamwork (Vifladt et al., 2015). Therefore, the greatest good in healthcare in minimizing medical errors is by focusing on quality improvement and the avoidance of the same error repetition.
References
Rodziewicz, T. L., & Hipskind, J. E. (2020). Medical error prevention. In StatPearls [Internet] . StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499956/
Sorra, J., Gray, L., Streagle, S., Famolaro, T., Yount, N., & Behm, J. (2016). AHRQ Hospital survey on patient safety culture: User’s guide. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality .
Vifladt, A., Simonsen, B. O., Lydersen, S., & Farup, P. G. (2015). The Culture of Incident Reporting and Feedback: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Hospital Setting. Open Journal of Nursing , 5 (11), 1242.
World Health Organization (2016). Medication errors: technical series on safer primary care. Geneva. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/252274/9789241511643-eng.pdf;jsessionid=FDB1BE2683396D2DA592F947714EBF5E?sequence=1
