Study Suggests Medical Errors in Hospitals Go Undetected

A study published in the April issue of the journal Health Affairs suggests that the number of injuries caused by medical error might be 10 times greater than previously measured. The news comes a dozen years after a study from the Institute of Medicine reported that avoidable medical errors lead to thousands of deaths in U.S. hospitals each year.

Researchers reviewed the medical records for 795 patients at three large U.S. hospitals to determine whether patient safety programs were well-established and operational. They looked for notations indicating specific problems, like an abnormal lab result or the use of an antidote. The team then investigated further to find out whether an adverse event occurred, how severe it may have been, and whether it was preventable.

Overall, the researchers detected 354 adverse events among the patient records using the method, called the Global Trigger Tool. According to the new procedure, adverse events occurred in 33.2% of admissions.

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