Reducing errors in medicine

With the rising complexity and reach of modern medicine have come startling levels of risk and harm to patients. One recent study in two of the most highly regarded hospitals in the world discovered serious or potentially serious medication errors in the care of 6.7 out of every 100 patients, and the Harvard Medical Practice Study, which reviewed over 30000 hospital records in New York state, found injuries from care itself (“adverse events”) to occur in 3.7% of hospital admissions, over half of which were preventable and 13.6% of which led to death. If these figures can be extrapolated to American health care in general then over 120 000 Americans die each year as a result of preventable errors in their hospital care. The costs of medical errors are high in financial terms as well, estimated to be almost $4700 per preventable adverse drug event in one American teaching hospital. PMC ID: PMC1116253 (September 1999)