This course meets the Florida requirement for prevention of medical errors (FloridaStatute 456.013), both for initial licensure and biennial renewal. Nursing Unlimited, Inc. is approved as a provider of nursing continuing education by the Florida Department of Health, Division of Quality Assurance, Board of Nursing, Florida Board of Nursing Accreditation #NCE2958-31 October 2009.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this program the learner will be able to:
- Define medical error.
- Identify the 8 different types of medical errors.
- Identify 3 factors that increase the risk of medical errors.
- Recognize 3 error-prone situations.
- Identify safety needs of special patient populations.
- Discuss processes and strategies to improve patient outcomes.
- Discuss strategies for preventing medical errors in 3 different areas.
- Recognize responsibilities according to Florida Law for reporting medical errors.
- Discuss 5 way for patient involvement in medical error’s prevention.
- Identify the National Patient Safety Goals of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for 2012.
For many years, the extent of medical errors was unknown. Uncovering the degree of the problem was fueled by the medical error-related death of Boston Globe health columnist Betsy Lehman in 1994. Lehman, who was being treated for breast cancer atBoston’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute, died from heart failure after she mistakenly received the four days cumulative dose of the cancer drug Cisplatin, instead of the daily dose. Her death triggered a landslide of government hearings, meetings, and reports.
Post-event findings and analysis culminated in the release in 2000 of “To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System,” by the Institute of Medicine (IOM),a nonprofit research group that is a part of the National Academy of Sciences. This report shocked the nation with its conclusion that preventable medical errors in the United States result in 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year, making medical errors more deadly than breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents or AIDS. Medical errors were responsible for injury in as many as one out of every 25 hospital patients, and their cost was as much as 28 billion each year. The IOM’s report have concluded that such errors are result from system failures, not people failures; so achieving acceptable levels of patient safety will require major systems changes; and a concerted national effort to improve patient safety.
For year 2007 the World Health Organization reported that medical care errors affect up to 10 % of patients worldwide (WHO, 2010). More than 10 years after the report of the IOM, the rate of medical errors in different areas in theUSAis not improved according to the recently published articles.
The IOM report have provided a blueprint for reducing medical errors, naming four key factors that have contributed to the epidemic of errors:
1) Fragmentation and decentralization of the healthcare system, which may create unsafe conditions for patients.
2) Licensing and accreditation processes, which gives insufficient attention to preventing errors.
3) The medical liability system, which discourages physicians from admitting mistakes and impedes systematic efforts to uncover and learn from errors.
4) The third-party purchasers of healthcare, which offer little incentive for healthcare organizations and providers to improve safety and quality.