Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. In America, there are approximately 250,000 deaths annually from medical mistakes. These mistakes can happen anywhere, from a hospital to a walk-in clinic.
These errors can be minor, such as an improperly administered antibiotic or a misread x-ray film. Others can be more serious and potentially fatal, such as a surgical complication or a prescription mistake.
While having the appropriate insurance such as personal liability insurance can protect you in the event of a medical malpractice suit, taking preventative steps to avoid a situation getting this far is far better for everyone concerned.
This blog post will discuss five ways you can help reduce medical mistakes in your healthcare setting.
Identify and Document Situations That Need Attention
Good managers and leaders listen to their staff and act on the feedback. By consistently asking for input from your team, you can identify situations that need attention. If you are a manager or leader, it is essential to identify problems where medical errors occur. This includes significant errors and minor mistakes that can add up over time.
By being aware of these mistakes, you will immediately implement plans to reduce them and ensure patient safety.
Patients must understand how they can help reduce medical errors in the facility they visit. They can do this by making sure they are fully informed about what tests they need and what procedures are available to them at the facility. This will make it easy for doctors and nurses to provide accurate information about their care plan with more confidence when providing treatment options for patients.
Another way you can help patients and prevent medical mistakes is by allowing them to communicate any concerns or questions about a procedure before it happens. This will allow doctors and nurses to correct any potential problems before they happen, so patients don’t have any unpleasant surprises during their stay at the hospital or clinic.
Eliminate Double-Handling Items
It is so easy to make mistakes when handling medications. Double-handling an item can lead to a medication error.
You may be wondering, “What exactly is double-handling?” Double-handling is when two different people handle the same medication they don’t need to use. If two nurses take care of a patient and each has their own set of supplies, one nurse might forget that she already gave the patient their medicine in the morning and gave it again in the evening. This can cause unnecessary stress on both nurses and patients and waste time from valuable care hours.
The solution is simple: Eliminate double-handling! It’s not difficult for hospitals to work with their staff members to identify items that need to be used only by one person so they won’t have to worry about having extra meds on hand.
Hospitals can avoid this issue by using unique identification tags on all medication bags. These tags contain information like which nurse should open the bag, how many doses are left, and what medication it has. The hospital then keeps these tags at all times during the day and uses them instead of putting meds in boxes or containers where someone else could mistakenly duplicate
Create a Safety Checklist
Medical errors are a standard part of healthcare. This is due to the complexity of the industry and the fact that mistakes happen more frequently than most people realize.
To reduce these errors, it is crucial to create a safety checklist. Safety checklists can help you think through all the steps involved in your procedure while giving your employees peace of mind that they have followed the proper procedures.
A safety checklist can be created for any practice or procedure. For example, suppose you are going to administer an IV. In that case, this could be included on your safety checklist: “Ensure that patient has no allergies to medications used in preparation for IV.” If you use blood products or antibiotics, you can include: “Check vial label for expiration date.”
Make Communication Clear and Concise
It’s startling to hear that mistakes are the third leading cause of death in America. But, if we can all make sure that our communication with healthcare professionals is clear and concise, we can help reduce these mistakes.
Communication is a critical step in contributing to the reduction of medical errors. When speaking as a healthcare professional, make sure you are communicating clearly and concisely. This means avoiding ambiguous or vague language that could create confusion and providing all the relevant information that your doctor will need to provide care for your condition.
For example, a doctor might ask for a patient’s input on how they feel about certain aspects of treatment before proceeding with surgery. This ensures that the patient trusts their doctor and will feel comfortable going through with the procedure. Use words the patient understands and regularly check they fully understand what you’re saying and what is happening going forward.
Designate Responsibility.
The first thing you can do to reduce the number of medical mistakes is to designate responsibility so that everyone in your healthcare setting has a clear understanding of their role. This will ensure that those responsible for different tasks are aware of their duties and fully capable of completing them.
Take, for example, the situation where someone is given an incorrect medication dosage. If a doctor mistakenly writes down 20 milligrams instead of 10 milligrams, it is easy for the patient to take too many pills as a result accidentally.
In this case, designated responsibilities would make it much easier to catch any errors before they cause harm. It would also be easier for the doctor and staff to pinpoint where the error occurred and restart the treatment process from there.
Designated responsibilities also help decrease stress levels in your healthcare setting. People are more likely to feel like they’re doing an excellent job if they know what their job entails. They’ll be able to see that they have enough support around them, which will lead them to be more productive and creative while they work.