The Effectiveness of Reporting
How safe is the health care system in United States? Shockingly, a flight on a domestic airline is safer than a stay in the hospital (Webster). In the United States, a patient has a 36 in 100,000 chance of dying in the hospital from a medical mistake. According to the Institute of Medicine, in November 1999, the estimated death toll each year due to medical mistakes has reached up to 98,000 (When Doctors Make Mistakes). In fact, deaths caused by medical mistakes rank as the fifth leading cause of death in the United States (Webster). What can be done to decrease the number of medical mistakes? Some feel the obvious answer is more regulation; however, more regulation of hospitals to reduce medical error is not necessarily beneficial. According to an online source, Facts on File, on February 22, 2000, Bill Clinton proposed new regulations for administering medical care. His proposal, based on federal officials' review of a 1999 Institute of Medicine report on medical errors, called for a state-based national mandatory error reporting system. In this system, hospitals would be required to publicly disclose serious, preventable adverse events, but not the names of patients and health care professionals involved. All states
Secondly, in an online article, the Institute of Medicine says the information is critical to " identify the extent of the problem, analyze data, and achieve solutions." The same source notes, a step toward achieving solutions, according to William Elderbrock, a retired FP in Kingsport, Tennessee, "We must bring our mistakes out of the closet. Physicians would benefit from sharing experiences that diminish the concept of perfectionism and recognize mistakes as a natural part of practicing medicine. We have to lose the idea that disclosure should invite shame and humiliation." An atmosphere that encourages health professionals to report mistakes needs to be developed, according to Richard H. Wade, a senior vice president of the American Hospital Association (Crane). Finally, such a system would restore confidence in patients toward hospitals. A concern regarding health professionals and malpractice gains the attention of many victims and potential patients; they feel more regulations are needed because too many doctors and nurses are getting away with unreported mistakes. The majority of medical malpractice lawsuits are settled out of court, and the errors of these doctors and nurses remain undisclosed to potential patients (When Doctors Make Mistakes). Advocates argue if more people were aware of these problems, they would be appalled. Third, regulation is its lack of effectiveness. John Eisenberg, the Director of the Agency of Health Care Research and Quality, questions the effectiveness of reporting, saying "there was no evidence that mandatory error-reporting programs currently operating in some states actually helped reduce the incidence of errors in those states" (Medicine and Health: Clinton Calls for Reporting). In accordance with effectiveness, the Department of Veteran Affairs has been monitoring mistakes in veteran hospitals. Surprisingly the number of mistakes has "soared", causing 700 deaths from 3,000 mistakes in the subsequent 19 months since June 1997. would have mandatory reporting systems w
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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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