Non Medical Errors

When it comes to medication errors several things may occur such as adverse drug event, unexpected deterioration, and even death in severe cases. AHRQ (2015) states, “an adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication, and ADEs account for nearly 700,000 emergency department visits 100,000 hospitalizations each year.” There are many ways that errors may occur such as dispensary errors, prescription errors

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) “Too Err is Human” estimated 98,000 deaths yearly due to medical error. Many of the errors are the result of adverse drug events, most of which occur during the prescribing and administration stages of medication administration (Guo, Iribarren, Kapsandoy, Perri, and Staggers, 2011). These errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. One report estimates that when all types of errors are accounted for, every hospitalized patient can expect on average one type of medication error per day and during 2006, adverse drug events resulted in approximately 400,000 cases of error at a cost of over $3.5 billion (pp. 202-224). Studies have demonstrated a

At this level, medical errors are responsible for claiming 44,000 to 96,000 lives a year. The list is there to prevent and protect patient safety. Common medical errors can be failure to understand how much of a medicine should be taken and

The problem of medical errors, and in particular medication errors, prompts an immediate attention from health care industries as it demands conservative actions from health care providers. Although many health-care providers value the importance of patient safety and quality health care, very few admit their faults at the occurrence of errors that could jeopardize the health of many individuals. “Medication errors represent the largest single cause of errors in the hospital setting, accounting for more than 7,000 deaths annually- more than the number of deaths resulting from workplace injuries.” (Katheen & Mason, 2005). The loss of these lives hold health-care providers and current standards accountable while many other untraceable errors resulting in injuries and disabilities go unnoticed.

Errors made while administering medications is one of the most common health care errors reported. It is estimated that 7,000 hospitals deaths yearly are attributed to medication administration errors.

Although errors in medication, surgery, and diagnosis are the easiest to detect, medical errors may result more frequently from the organization of health care delivery and the way that resources are provided to the delivery system. Research by AHRQ-supported

The result of under-reporting errors is inaccurate statistics of medical errors. As a result it prevents the medical community to implement solutions or better practice to prevent this errors from happening

remain a multidisciplinary effort (Ammouri et al., 2014). Medical errors can occur in any healthcare setting and during any point during the delivery of care.

Medication errors are a one of the biggest causes of patient’s death. “Based on an analysis of prior research, the Johns Hopkins study estimates that more than 250,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. On the CDC's official list, that would rank just behind heart disease and cancer, which each took about 600,000 lives in 2014, and in front of respiratory disease, which caused about 150,000 deaths.”(Hopkins). “But no one knows the exact toll taken by medical errors. In significant part, that's because the coding system used by CDC to record death certificate data doesn't capture things like communication breakdowns, diagnostic errors and poor judgment that cost lives, the study says”(Hopkins). Medication errors can happen to anyone because humans are not perfect and they make mistakes. The lesson to be taken away from an error is how to prevent future ones.

As previously mentioned the institute of Medicine report dated 1999, every year 44,000 to 98,000 patients die from medical errors. Almost 7,000 of them were medication errors that could have been prevented (ORH, 2004). In addition medical errors are costing our healthcare system an estimated $735 billion to $980 billion (Pubmed, 2012). Medical errors are not a new issue and have been around for a long time. The questions come to mind are how does the problem of medical errors affect our healthcare delivery system? Also how can these medical errors be prevented and reduced?

The topic our group will be researching is the reduction of medical errors. It is imperative that the group conducts its research and performs the necessary assignments in an ethical manner. While writing our research paper, it is important that all members of the team cite work properly, so as to avoid plagiarism. This includes using proper in-text citations, citing sources on the reference page, and paraphrasing data correctly. Each member of the team will also be responsible for avoiding self-plagiarism. The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative defines self plagiarism as, "...the practice of reusing one's own work." If any member of our team has written a paper on medical errors in the past, they will not be able to reuse said

Approximately 440,000 people die every year from preventable medication errors. This is is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Many of these errors could be avoided if Medical facilities would use standard precautions when administering medications. Health care workers should be better educated in patient care and preventable medical errors, this extra knowledge could save millions of lives and save millions of dollars. To keep these medication errors from occurring, it is important that all medical staff keep increasing their knowledge about medication errors and patient care. This will help decrease the death tolls in all Medical facilities.

In today's modern world with plenty of technology, it is hard to believe that we cannot figure out how to reduce Medical errors. The issue of medical error is not new in health care organizations. It has been in spot light since 1990's, when government did research on sudden increase in number of death in the hospitals. According to Lester, H., & Tritter, J. (2001), "Medical error is an actual or potential serious lapse in the standard of care provided to a patient, or harm caused to a patient through the performance of a health service or health care professional." Medical errors

Medication error (ME) is a significant problem within our health care system, in terms of patient harm and cost. In July 2002, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) cited the need to reduce medication errors as a top priority. Several studies suggest that medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the United States. In fact, at least 7,000 inpatient deaths occur annually as a direct

Medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Unfortunately, among the 98,000 deaths that occur every year from medical errors in the U.S hospitals, a significant number of those deaths are associated with medication errors. This is a most significant issue we see today affecting patient safety and in turn costs in hospitals very often, poses dangerous consequences to the patients.