Reducing Medical Errors

Medical errors can cause significant morbidity (specific disease) and mortality (death) in hospitalized patients. Reporting of medical errors by healthcare providers is an important strategy to enhance patient safety. Reducing medical errors is central to efforts to improve quality and lower costs in healthcare. Healthcare is continuously growing as new technologies are developed that allow healthcare providers to diagnose and treat more illnesses, creating an environment to reduce the medical errors. There are many types of healthcare settings that are at great risk for having medical errors; however hospitals are areas where complex healthcare is provided that creates a greater risk and opportunity for errors to happen or occur. Several healthcare providers advocate patient safety as one of the highest priorities during the provision of care to patients. Medical errors exist and they can pose a real threat to the quality and sustainability of a hospital while providing patient care. There are many things that can occur in the healthcare field; but no one is exempt from making a mistake that could possibly lead to a personal tragedy. According to a

If providers cover up errors and mistakes, they do not necessarily stay hidden and often result in compromising the mission of health care organizations (Wolf.) Consistent with their mission, institutions have an ethical obligation to admit clinical mistakes. Professional and organizational policies and procedures, risk management, and performance improvement initiatives demand prompt reporting. When patients, families, and communities do not trust health care agencies, suspicion and adversarial relationships result. Likewise, the breach of the principle of fidelity or truthfulness by deception damages provider-patient relationships. Fidelity and trust, complete the provider-patient relationship, but cannot coexist with deception