Open post #6: Catching errors

A study was done at 36 hospitals in Georgia and Colorado to see how many medical errors were made by workers. In the study they used three different detectors to catch errors that were made, they are incident report review, chart review and direct observation. They evaluated each dose that was given and looked at the prescriber's order, and any deviations from the original order were to be marked errors. They observed the efficiency of each hospital by looking at how long it took to analyze each dose of medicine and make sure it was administered correctly. They also looked at how clinically significant the error was, and a panel of physician did this. When the results of the test came in, 300 of 457 pharmacists described errors being made on 2556 doses. That is about 11% errors. I found this too be really appalling because there is no way that it they should be making this many mistakes. They are doctors, that trained for a long time to do their job so I personally don't know how there would be this many mistakes being made. This makes me think that if I got a prescription for something that its likely that i'm not going to get what i was actually prescribed. I want to have faith in the medical field but studies like this one make me not want to go to a hospital. This is why i'm going to be a nurse so that I can make sure that mistakes are not happening and that everyone gets what they are actually prescribed, without any mistakes or mix ups. Each mistake made costs the hospital money and respect so i hope that this number goes down in the future because i was amazed that it was as high as it is.