Prevalence of Medical Errors in the US

Medical errors are a significant concern in the US, with over 250,000 deaths per year attributed to such errors. The top three causes of death in the US are respiratory disease, heart disease, and cancer, with medical errors contributing to these statistics. Additionally, 13.8% of patients die from unexpected deaths due to medical errors. The study highlights various reasons for medical errors, including poor record-keeping, fragmented insurance networks, and lack of pharmacological knowledge.

PREVALENCE OF MEDICAL ERROR
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF PREVALENCE OF MEDICAL ERRORS IN US......................................3
SEVERITY OF MEDICAL ERRORS.......................................................................................................4
CLASSIFY MEDICAL ERRORS IN TERMS OF CONSEQUENCES.............................................................4
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................5
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CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF PREVALENCE OF MEDICAL ERRORS IN US
In USA, more than 2,50,000 deaths happen per year due to medical error. It is also
published in The BMJ wherein it is stated that the third leading cause of death is respiratory
disease and that usually happens due to medical errors by staff members. According to the
Centres for disease, it is being recorded that in the year 2013, 3611,105 people died due to heart
disease, 584,881 died of cancer and 149,205 died of chronic respiratory disease. Henceforth,
these are the top there causes for death in the US (Stokowski, 2016). In most of the studies, it is
being analysed that a few medical errors happen because of improper attention towards the past
and present records of the patient. Poorly coordinated, fragmented insurance networks, absence
of safety nets and other protocols are some of the reasons that leads to medical errors.
Additionally, unwanted variation in physician practice patterns also lacks the accountability.
Diseases Number of people died because of medical
errors
Heart disease 614,348
Respiratory disease 147,101
Accidental cases 136,053
Cerebrovascular disease 133,103
Alzheimer’s disease 93,541
Diabetes 76,488
Influenza and pneumonia 55,227
Intentional self-harm 42,773
Nephritis and nephritic syndrome 48,146
Cancer 591,699
In the same year 2013, it has been witnessed that more than 251,454 patients die due to
medical error. As per Indiana University, researchers estimated that 13.8% patients die because
of unexpected deaths and this usually happens due to medical errors (Study Suggests Medical
Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S. 2016).
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In European Union, around 23% of patients are affected because of medical error;
whereas 18% claims to have serious issues due to medical errors in hospitals and other 11% have
problems due to wrong medication. In NHS, almost 12,000 patients died needlessly because of
basic medical errors by medical staff members. The error caused death in 5.2% of these which is
equivalent to 11,859 preventable deaths in hospitals in England. As per the study done by
Cheragi (2013), medical errors had been made by 64.55% of the nurses and in addition to this,
31.37% of the practitioners witnessed medical error on the verge of occurrence. Further, in
England almost 12,000 adult deaths happened in the year 2009 due to medical errors.
However in the study of Weingart (2000), states that because of the adverse drug events,
28% death happens due to errors. In Australia, medical error leads to 18,000 unnecessary deaths,
and more than 50,000 patients become disabled each year. In the United States, medical error
leads to 44,000 unnecessary deaths each year and 1 million excess injuries.
Reasons for medical errors
The most common types of reported errors were wrong dosage and infusion rate.
Sometimes, due to use of abbreviations of drugs also leads to medication errors and that typically
happens due to lack of pharmacological knowledge (Laurance, 2012).
SEVERITY OF MEDICAL ERRORS
Medical errors generates high risk of death and further reactions on the body and it also
hampers the physical and mental state of the patient (Doormaal and et.al., 2009). A medication
error is not the same as an adverse drug reaction, although the two may overlap. Medical error is
highly harmful because it not only hampers the patient; but also it affects all the family members
and carers. It is being ascertained that medical errors affect patient safety to a significant extent
as these errors can lead to preventable adverse drug events. Henceforth, in this relation it can be
said that it is important to know the type of medical error which is prevalent in preventable
adverse drug events. At the same time, medical errors not only affects the care practitioner’s
skills and competencies; but also it changes the health status of patients. After medical error, it
become more difficult for the practitioners to deal with the patient (Britten, 2009).
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CLASSIFY MEDICAL ERRORS IN TERMS OF CONSEQUENCES
There are several contributing errors that enhances the degree and frequency of medical
errors. However, on the other hand delayed diagnosis is one of the reasons that occurs in medical
error and that leads to number of other health consequences. Moreover, nursing errors also leads
to more health issues and at the same time, it hinders the patient’s case. It also enhances the rate
of mortality which is a pessimistic aspect for the health care entity and its developed health care
standards.
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REFERENCES
Britten, N., 2009. Medication errors: the role of the patient. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 67(6).pp. 646–
650.
Doormaal, V and et.al., 2009. Medication errors: the impact of prescribing and transcribing
errors on preventable harm in hospitalised patients. Qual Saf Health Care. 18(1). pp.22-7.
Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139/rapid-responses>. [Accessed on 24th
December 2016].
Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S. 2016. [Online].
Available through:
<http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_
now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us>. [Accessed on 24th December 2016].
Stokowski, A. L., 2016. Who Believes That Medical Error Is the Third Leading Cause of
Hospital Deaths. [Pdf]. Available through:
<http://insanemedicine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Medical-error-and-death.pdf>.
[Accessed on 24th December 2016].
Weingart,N. S and et.al., 2000. Epidemiology of medical error. West J Med. 172(6).pp. 390–393.
Laurance, J., 2012. Doctors' basic errors are killing 1,000 patients a month. [Online]. Available
through: <http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/
doctors-basic-errors-are-killing-1000-patients-a-month-7939674.html>. [Accessed on 24th
December 2016].
Cheragi, A. M and et.al., 2013. Types and causes of medication errors from nurse's viewpoint.
Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. pp.228–231.
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