Read the IOM report, To Err is Human , before posting your discussion. In the IO

Question

Read the IOM report, To Err is Human, before posting your discussion.

In the IOM report, To Err is Human, it addresses medical errors, which is termed adverse events in today's health market. This report is highly referenced even today after more than 15 years (report was published in 1999). Based on the results in this report, do you think it still is relevant in healthcare today? What have health organizations done to change these issues? Have there been improvements in quality and patient safety since this report was published? Your answers should include examples and supporting evidence.

Your initial post should be at least 300 words

Explanation / Answer

This report focusses on the fact that the healthcare system in United states is not safe. About 40,000-98,000 people die in hospitals every year because of medical errors which can be easily prevented. This proportion of deaths is more than the patients which die from road accidents, AIDS and breast cancer. Medical errors are defined as the failure of a plan to be implemented as desired or use of a wrong plan to achieve the goal. Most of the common medical errors are improper transfusion, adverse affect of drugs, wrong site injuries, injuries due to surgeries, mistaken identities of patients, pressure ulcers, burn, death and fall of the patient. The rate of errors is high in intensive care units, emergency department and operating rooms.

These errors results in loss of the patients income, disability and loss in household productivity. The estimated cost of these errors are from $17 billions-$29 billions per year in hospitals worldwide. Also the patients lost trust in these health care system. Patients which experience disability or long term stay in hospitals due to medical errors have to bear physical and psychological discomfort. Also the healthcare professionals also feel frustrate and also their moral is lost because they are not giving the patients best healthcare possible. Also society also suffers from loss in worker productivity, reduction in attendance of the children, poor health status of the population in the society.

The factors which contribute to this medical errors are fragmented nature of the health care systems in which multiples providers in different setting do not have access to complete information. Also the process by which the health professionals are given licensed does not focus on the ways to prevent these medical errors. Also these health care organisations and professionals are given little financial assistance to improve quality of services by most of the third party purchasers.

A report was issued in november 1999 by the IOM commitee. In this report the strategies to minimize these medical errors in hospital were provided. The report sets a minimum goal of 50% reduction in these errors in the next five years. To achieve this goal there should be a balance between organisations, consumers, regulatory and market based initiatives. These errors are not result of an individual but mostly due to faulty systems and conditions which makes people to mistakes or fail to prevent them. For these we need to make our health systems more safer and making the situations harder to make people to do mistake. Also blaming an individual rather than the whole system should be prevented.

The response of this IOM report was positive and swift within private as well as government sectors. An executive order was issued which instructs the government agencies to conduct health programmes and implement proven as well as invent new technologies to prevent these medical errors. After that congress launched series of hearings on patients safety. In december 2000, it provided financial assistance of $50 million to the health care agencies to improve their quality.

There has been lot of improvement since 1990. Now hospitals have been built in rural or remote areas so to provide access to all. Also special assistance is given to the poor and those patients which cannot afford these services. Now the number of beds in the hospitals have been increased and also improved in the hygienic conditions in the hospitals. These report is still used today because still there are cases in which patients die due to some drug overdose and surgical injuries and failed transfusion.

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