Hospital Errors 3rd Leading Cause of Death

4 http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/stor...#ixzz2fe8EZ44D

A new study has come out ranking medical errors in healthcare facilities as the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, behind only heart disease and cancer. What do you all think? I personally find it interesting that the author of this study started a patient safety advocacy group after his 19-year-old son's death was attributed to a medical error. Biased much?
I wish the article gave some more information. What is counted as a medical error? What about the underlying problems that brought the patient to hospital in the first place? How old is the data they are using, and does it show any change with the new emphasis on patient safety?There is a bigger emphasis on patient safety compared to when I started in nursing.

This study uses a wider net than previous studies in that it counts Hospital errors that probably "contributed" to a death, this gives it a higher estimate than previous studies, but according to other researchers who have reviewed the data, it is essentially accurate. The IOM did a study about a decade a go that found Hospitals errors are more directly responsible for about 100,000 deaths a year, making Hospital care the 6th leading cause of death in the US, this finding is widely accepted as a legitimate number. It's actually not all that unreasonable that if hospital care is the direct cause of about 100,000 deaths a year, including more indirect causes would be about three times that.

I wish this was common knowledge. Patients would be outraged and demand change.

I'm skeptical. People who go to the hospital are already sick, obviously. Is failing to "cure" this sickness considered an error? Failure to diagnose it properly?When people hear "hospital error" they think a nurse giving the wrong med. Or a surgeon removing the wrong organ. Or one patient being misktaken for another. I doubt very much those kinds of errors are the third leading cause of death in the USA.Isn't it more likely that our increasingly litigious society has simply widened the definition of "hospital error" to include the inevitable?

My last shift. Patient#1:Stopped taking her warfarin, developed DVT/PE, brain bleed and craniotomy after tPa.Patient#2:MSSA septicemia from drug use. Patient#3:Viral Gastroenteritis, hepatitis from ETOH use (no plans to stop drinking).Patient#4:Stopped going to dialysis to try "alternative medicine" for ESRD. Odds are one or more of these geniuses are going to pass away soon, most likely under medical treatment. I'm betting they will end up as one of the "statistics" above. Sheesh.

Quote from ArtClassRNMy last shift. Patient#1:Stopped taking her warfarin, developed DVT/PE, brain bleed and craniotomy after tPa.Patient#2:MSSA septicemia from drug use. Patient#3:Viral Gastroenteritis, hepatitis from ETOH use (no plans to stop drinking).Patient#4:Stopped going to dialysis to try "alternative medicine" for ESRD. Odds are one or more of these geniuses are going to pass away soon, most likely under medical treatment. I'm betting they will end up as one of the "statistics" above. Sheesh.

Quote from MunoRNNone of these are counted in the statistics above. Medical errors are not the same as someone dying due to other causes unrelated to their care.Deaths due to medical errors includes errors (obviously) as well as other events, complications, etc that are considered to be avoidable, such as central line infections, surgical infections, etc.For instance, Central line infections alone cause 35,000 deaths/year in the US, given that this is only one of may ways we kill patients, it shouldn't be too hard to believe that the total could well be 200,000 or more.

Quote from sapphire18Hospital medical errors now the third leading cause of death in the U.S. - FierceHealthcareA new study has come out ranking medical errors in healthcare facilities as the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, behind only heart disease and cancer. What do you all think? I personally find it interesting that the author of this study started a patient safety advocacy group after his 19-year-old son's death was attributed to a medical error. Biased much?

My Mom recently had a very long hospital stay. She has a brain injury from 30 yrs ago (MVA) and now suffers many repercussions, including seizures. I'll try and make this short. She was having continual seizures and was brought to the ER. They got her under control after 30min or so. In the ER they drew the wrong labs. I pointed it out to the Doctor, as he thought she was not taking her seizure meds. This was never corrected. Additionally, when I was finally allowed to see her, I noticed she was still having small seizures, and I asked to see the Doctor. We were finally transferred to the Neuro ICU where she stayed for 3 days. There I had issues with her getting her seizure medications on time (5 hours late). Then, we were transferred to the Neuro floor. She suddenly became incontinent, she was not sleeping due to this. Also, She became tachycardic; she was having extreme anxiety. The next day I asked the nurse if she was taking her Detrol and Effexor. Come to find out the medications were discontinued. When I spoke to the Doctor he really had no answer for me as to what happened, nor did he care. Had I not been there I fear what would have happened to my Mom.I am a nursing student in my last year. I am learning from all of this, but at the same time this frightens me.

Quote from MunoRNNone of these are counted in the statistics above. Medical errors are not the same as someone dying due to other causes unrelated to their care.Deaths due to medical errors includes errors (obviously) as well as other events, complications, etc that are considered to be avoidable, such as central line infections, surgical infections, etc.For instance, Central line infections alone cause 35,000 deaths/year in the US, given that this is only one of may ways we kill patients, it shouldn't be too hard to believe that the total could well be 200,000 or more.

I believe errors are I the top 10, but not 3rd in ranking. While my father was inpatient from a choking episode that lead to aspiration pneumonia. He could not swallow and was NPO. Several times the staff tried bringing him water and food trays. Luckily my husband and I were able to be there most of the time to stop him from eating/drinking. That would have been a very dangerous situation & error.

Quote from ArtClassRNYou completely missed my point. For example, one of those patients I note above might just get a central line placement, develop an infection and be counted among your holocaust statistics. Then you would claim they were one of the deaths caused by "central line infection alone." That's bogus.