Problems in the Health Care Field
"Mistakes can injure patients and land physicians in legal and professional trouble. Studying these mistakes and learning how to prevent, monitor, and respond to them, however, has changed the standards of care. By working to eliminate common medical errors, physicians can protect patients, protect themselves from lawsuits, and help lower the cost of their professional liability insurance premiums." (12 Worst Medical Technology Dangers) A very common way to improve your work ethics is simply just realizing what you did wrong and learn from it. Unfortunately, in the medical field just one mistake can harm a patient or put your job in danger. There is a lot of mistakes that goes on behind the scenes of a hospital most people don't know about, get ready for the ugly truth.
How are these awful mistakes caused?
There isn't always an answer to every question, unfortunately this is one of them. The main reasons why so many slip ups happen is not because the doctor or other physician purposely try to mess up, but a systemic issue. On the other hand of that, other cases of malpractice was brought up against medical practitioners, showing various accounts of failing. We also cannot forget, human error. No one is perfect, so many mistakes are simply because of that.
Short term and long term effects of these messy situations
Some medical errors have bigger repercussions then others, and can greatly effect the reputation of the hospital as a whole as well as cost a lot of money to fix an error that could have been prevented. As stated in on of the articles i read, "In addition to the cost of medical errors and the poor reputation to the healthcare industry, the personal impact of the medical error to the patients and their families are often not reported." (To Understand the Impact of Medical Errors, Put Yourself in the Patient's Place) A long term effect can injure patients as well as put physicians in legal and/or professional trouble.
Where do we go from here?
After discovering any mistake, you must fix it. There is no "one way " to fix every medical error. The most common way is to constantly be studying/learning from your mistakes and figure out what you did wrong and what you can do to prevent that from happening again. Simply fixing what went wrong can change a lot about a situation. If everyone in the hospital works together, theses errors can be reduced and the hospital wont be such a scary place!
Work Cited List
"12 Worst Medical Technology Dangers." Medscape. WebMD LLC, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2013. <http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/tech-dangers>.
Llewellyn, Anne. "To Understand the Impact of Medical Errors, Put Yourself in the Patient's Place :: Dorland Health." To Understand the Impact of Medical Errors, Put Yourself in the Patient's Place :: Dorland Health. N.p., 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dorlandhealth.com/cip_weekly/To-Understand-the-Impact-of-Medical-Errors-Put-Yourself-in-the-Patients-Place_1689.html>.
"Patient Safety." Patient Safety. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ihi.org/explore/patientsafety/pages/default.aspx>.
Pictures:
N.d. Photograph. Science Direct. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0009912004002772-gr1.jpg>.
N.d. Photograph. Clinical Bioinformation. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://clinical-bioinformatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Medical-Errors-pie-chart2.jpg>.
"12 Worst Medical Technology Dangers." Medscape. WebMD LLC, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2013. <http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/tech-dangers>.
Llewellyn, Anne. "To Understand the Impact of Medical Errors, Put Yourself in the Patient's Place :: Dorland Health." To Understand the Impact of Medical Errors, Put Yourself in the Patient's Place :: Dorland Health. N.p., 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dorlandhealth.com/cip_weekly/To-Understand-the-Impact-of-Medical-Errors-Put-Yourself-in-the-Patients-Place_1689.html>.
"Patient Safety." Patient Safety. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ihi.org/explore/patientsafety/pages/default.aspx>.
Pictures:
N.d. Photograph. Science Direct. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0009912004002772-gr1.jpg>.
N.d. Photograph. Clinical Bioinformation. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://clinical-bioinformatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Medical-Errors-pie-chart2.jpg>.