Medical Errors Are Number 3 Cause of US Deaths, Researchers Say (npr.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine says medical errors should rank as the third-leading cause of death in the United States -- and highlights how shortcomings in tracking vital statistics may hinder research and keep the problem out of the public eye. The authors, led by Johns Hopkins surgeon Dr. Martin Makary, call for changes in death certificates to better tabulate fatal lapses in care. In an open letter, they urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to immediately add medical errors to its annual list reporting the top causes of 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. Medical mistakes that can lead to death range from surgical complications that go unrecognized to mix-ups with the doses or types of medications patients receive. The study was published Tuesday in The BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.

Comments

Burnout, Depression, Anxiety in Em Dept staff

[BoRegardless]

When you look up the rates for problems, you see huge % of the staff have problems.

The non-stop pressure from management to work faster coupled with major decisions being made with often not enough diagnostics or time means burnout is high and part of that is the recognition they make mistakes.

A friend who works the ED noted he had an inconclusive diagnosis of a new patient and took extra time to get other tests done. He got the results and the patient was moved into the hospital and he was on to his next patient when a 'bean counter' shows up and says "We noticed you took an extra 20 minutes on your last patient. You are slowing down. etc. etc."

Then to counter the stress and sometimes double shifts, they start taking drugs.

Re:US healthcare

[dcw3]

Nope, Cuba is behind us.

http://thepatientfactor.com/ca...