The start of a new year is an appropriate time to take a look at patient safety-a problem high on the list of needed health-care reforms ever since the Institute of Medicine issued a shocking report in 1999 on the toll that medical errors were taking on patients' lives and well being. According to a study published last month in JAMA, hospitalized patients are, indeed, safer than they were a few years ago, but the pace of improvement is agonizingly slow (JAMA 2005;294:2858).
The researchers drew conclusions from a comparison of 2002 and 2004 surveys at every acute care hospital in Missouri and Utah. The most arresting example of progress? Implementation of computerized physician order-entry (CPOE) systems, an improvement in hospital procedure that is widely accepted as crucial to improving patient safety. About two-thirds of respondents had such a system in place for ordering clinical laboratory tests or imaging studies in 2004-a somewhat reassuring figure, even though it is only a few percentage points higher than what was seen in the 2002 survey.
When it came to CPOE for prescription drugs, full implementation was far lower-reported by only 34% of respondents in 2004, or less than one percentage point of improvement over what was reported in 2002. What's more, even when such a prescribing system was in place, only 3% of hospitals surveyed required physicians to use it.
Anger hurts your team’s performance and health, and yours too
October 25th 2024Anger in health care affects both patients and professionals with rising violence and negative health outcomes, but understanding its triggers and applying de-escalation techniques can help manage this pervasive issue.