Looking to Other Industries to Avoid Medical Malpractice
A 1999 study performed by the Institute of Medicine reported that nearly 98,000 people die each year due to medical mistakes. 98,000 people. Each year. That’s the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing every single day.
The financial cost of all this malpractice is up to $29 billion annually, a figure that represents not only the legal proceedings following such horrific events, but includes the cost of additional medical care. Those who are seriously injured by medical errors, but not killed, may, for example, require 24-hour care for the rest of their life.
If plane crashes were as frequent and as financially exorbitant as this, wouldn’t we work to fix them immediately? So why would it be acceptable in medicine?
We rely on the health industry to provide informed and practiced advice, void of negligent errors. To avoid many of the minor mistakes that have caused so many injuries, the health industry is now taking cues from other sectors–such as the airline industry–to internally reduce the risk of medical errors and their accompanying costs.
The airline industry undertook a survey of the incidents causing flight accidents over the last ten years, seeking common themes that linked the occurrences. One oversight was the informality of most cockpits, where pilots and staff could often be found socializing. These distractions were considered responsible for many in-flight errors. To compensate, the airline industry enacted standards to formalize the work environment of their employees. As a result, in-flight mistakes decreased dramatically.
Similarly, the medical industry is working to standardize practices in places where mistakes most often occur. Common themes can include limited communication, lack of supervision and failure to get a second opinion. Reducing the risks of medical malpractice relies on reducing these three themes.
For example, some hospitals are enacting “medzones” where prescriptions–one of the most common areas of medical negligence–are thoroughly reviewed before being distributed, oftentimes including visually distinct labels that distinguish the medicine from similar drugs. By enacting requirements that formalize this environment, doctors, nurses and pharmacists are far less likely to make mistakes.
As our health care system becomes increasingly complex, it is more important than ever to create further standards and systems that eliminate these serious, life-altering mistakes. By reducing the risks and costs associated with medical care, practitioners can continue to save lives with a lessened burden of uncertainty.
