Medical errors encompass any preventable harm to a patient that occurs because a healthcare professional’s behavior fell below a required standard level of care. Unfortunately, medical errors occur with staggering regularity and are considered a public health issue. Recent studies place the yearly number of patients in the U.S. affected by preventable human error to be close to one million with an annual associated cost to the U.S. healthcare system of $17-29 billion (Guillod, 2013).
In September 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report entitled “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which addressed many of the issues surrounding medical errors. In its report, the IOM concluded that many medical errors are the …show more content…
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
The mission of AHRQ is to produce evidence that makes healthcare safer, more accessible, equitable, and affordable. To that end, it has funded quality improvement research programs and worked to establish patient safety organizations that promote shared learning. Among AHRQ’s accomplishments are programs such as:
• AHRQuality Indicators – used to highlight quality concerns in hospital inpatient settings
• ARHQ’s Healthcare Associated Infections Program - supports hospital acquired infection prevention techniques in acute care hospitals, ambulatory, and long-term care settings
• Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program – seeks to improve communication and cooperation among clinical team members
• Improve Diagnostic Safety – investigates how diagnostic errors happen and what can be done to prevent them
• Pharmacy Health Literacy Center – aims to reduce medication errors by providing pharmacists with tools to help engage patients with limited medication knowledge
• Patient Safety Organization Program –creates a legally secure environment where clinicians and health care organization can voluntarily report, aggregate, and analyze data related to adverse …show more content…
The use of electronic health records (EHR) to collect and exchange quality healthcare data to healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, can help to reduce the occurrence of medical errors. EHRs can be used to prevent adverse medication events and improve patient outcomes by generating and transmitting prescriptions electronically; thereby, eliminating legibility errors. Through the proper updating and maintenance of a patient’s medication and allergy lists within the EHR, automatic alerts can be sent to the provider warning of potential drug/drug or drug/allergy interactions. (“How Can Electronic Records”,
In September 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report entitled “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which addressed many of the issues surrounding medical errors. In its report, the IOM concluded that many medical errors are the …show more content…
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
The mission of AHRQ is to produce evidence that makes healthcare safer, more accessible, equitable, and affordable. To that end, it has funded quality improvement research programs and worked to establish patient safety organizations that promote shared learning. Among AHRQ’s accomplishments are programs such as:
• AHRQuality Indicators – used to highlight quality concerns in hospital inpatient settings
• ARHQ’s Healthcare Associated Infections Program - supports hospital acquired infection prevention techniques in acute care hospitals, ambulatory, and long-term care settings
• Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program – seeks to improve communication and cooperation among clinical team members
• Improve Diagnostic Safety – investigates how diagnostic errors happen and what can be done to prevent them
• Pharmacy Health Literacy Center – aims to reduce medication errors by providing pharmacists with tools to help engage patients with limited medication knowledge
• Patient Safety Organization Program –creates a legally secure environment where clinicians and health care organization can voluntarily report, aggregate, and analyze data related to adverse …show more content…
The use of electronic health records (EHR) to collect and exchange quality healthcare data to healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, can help to reduce the occurrence of medical errors. EHRs can be used to prevent adverse medication events and improve patient outcomes by generating and transmitting prescriptions electronically; thereby, eliminating legibility errors. Through the proper updating and maintenance of a patient’s medication and allergy lists within the EHR, automatic alerts can be sent to the provider warning of potential drug/drug or drug/allergy interactions. (“How Can Electronic Records”,