Struggle goes on to improve patient safety, cut errors

Systematic approaches to health care delivery are seen as key, yet peer review and information sharing among physicians are also stressed in a new Institute of Medicine report.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Nov. 19, 2001.

The Institute of Medicine's report, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System" is now 2 years old, but if recent events are any indication, it continues to weigh heavily on the minds of members of the health care community.

Improving patient safety and reducing medical errors were the subjects of several recent reports and seminars. And although comprehensive, nationwide action has yet to be realized, officials involved in the issue continue to look for ways to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety.

"There is no one place you can point the finger of blame and say: 'It's your fault. You fix it,' " said UnitedHealth Group Vice President Reed V. Tuckson, MD, at an early fall seminar in Chicago sponsored by UnitedHealthcare.

AMA President-elect Yank D. Coble Jr., MD, also participated in the seminar. He called on doctors to report mistakes and stressed the need for peer review and information sharing.

Dr. Coble said further improvements in safety could be made by looking at effective models such as the airline industry -- whose safety practices were highly acclaimed before Sept. 11.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality also recently cited the airline industry as a model for safety practices in its report, "Making Health Care Safer: A Critical Analysis of Patient Safety Practices." The report called for incorporating safety practices used within the airline, aerospace and nuclear energy industries. These include root cause analysis, preoperative checklists, simulator training and integrating human factors engineering into the design of medical devices. [...]