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The safety of the patients in our care and treatment is an important goal during all healthcare encounters. Early studies in the 1960s already pointed to healthcare related errors as a problem for healthcare consumers. However, it was the startling report in 1999, from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) To Err is Human, that served as a wake-up call for healthcare professionals, multiple public and private healthcare and healthcare-related organizations, state legislatures and the federal government. The IOM report, now 15 years old, estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually are a result of medical errors; more than half of the adverse medical events occurring each year are due to preventable medical errors, causing the death of tens of thousands. The cost associated with these errors in lost income, disability, and healthcare cost $29 billion annually back in 1999.
Since the above costs of medical errors come from the IOM report issued in 1999, in 2012 (Andel, et al, 2012) estimated that approximately 200,000 Americans die from preventable medical errors including facility-acquired conditions and millions may experience errors. Currently, it is estimated that the cost of medical errors is $735 billion to $980 billion. This is due to direct costs, ancillary services, increased mortality rates, lost productivity from missed work and disability claims.
In a study on hospital pneumonia rates and sepsis rates (Eber, et. al , 2010), researchers looked at data from 59 million discharges, covering 40 of the 50 US states between 1998 and 2006. Patients who developed sepsis after surgery had to stay in the hospital on average nearly 11 days extra, at a cost of $32,900 per patient; just under 20% of these patients died. Pneumonia patients stayed in the hospital an extra 14 days after surgery, at a cost of $46,400, and more than 11% of those patients died.
Clearly the problem of medical errors in healthcare requires diligent attention and intervention. Unfortunately, “medical errors” is a complex set of biological, technological, professional, consumer, interpersonal, etc. factors that interact and influence each other to undermine patient safety.
In the State of Florida, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and other healthcare professionals must complete 2 hours of continuing education related to the Prevention of Medical Errors in each 2-year licensure renewal period. Access Continuing Education, Inc. is a Florida-approved provider of continuing education for nurses, provider # 50-7628. Successfully completing this course will meet the Florida Board of Nursing requirement.
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