Did you know that the most common mistake in a hospital is a medication error? The severity of the medication error may vary from case to case. In certain instances, the medication error may not have that big of an impact on the patient. In some cases, the error may be caught soon after the medicine has been prescribed or implemented, and this can prevent a negative outcome. But in many, many other cases, the medication error drastically affects a patient’s life for the worse.
In fact, there are roughly 3.8 million hospital patients that are affected by medication errors every year in the United States.
Thankfully, many hospitals around the country are implementing new software and computer programs to try to reduce or eliminate medication errors. A recent survey found that 39 of New Jersey’s 71 hospitals are using these systems for more than 75 percent of their inpatient prescriptions to catch medication errors. That rate is higher than the national average, and while other hospital in the state still have some work to do in this area of medical mistakes, at least it’s nice to see a bulk of the facilities taking positive steps to protect patients.
Still, you can never account for the human element when it comes to medical care. People are going to make mistakes, regardless of their training or skill level, or how many safety precautions or protocols you implement. When mistakes are made by a hospital, the patient needs to carefully consider his or her legal options.
Source: NJ.com, “Find out how N.J. hospitals compare in preventing medication errors,” Kathleen O’Brien, April 9, 2015
