Nine Potential Causes of Medical Errors
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1.Fundamental difficulties in medical care
Balancing act of over-testing and under-testing
Too much information — impossible to stay up-to-date
Lack of time
2. Medical industry system problems
Under-funded care
Inefficiency of use of funds
Over-worked physicians
Slow adoption of technology
Failure to report medical errors for fear of lawsuits
Unnecessary medical tests for fear of lawsuits
3. Physician mistakes
Human mistakes
Alcohol or drug abuse
Poor handwriting
Poor dosage instructions
4. Patient mistakes
Failure to report symptoms
Delay in reporting symptoms
Failure to report medications
Non-compliance with treatment plans
Dishonesty: Fraud, hypochondria
Fear: Legal, social
Patient pressure on physicians
5. Pharmacist mistakes
Wrong medication
Similar labels and packaging
Similar medication names
Wrong dosage
Failure to communicate instructions
6. Pathology laboratory mistakes
Errors in sample labeling
Cross-contamination during testing
Inherent risks in tests — false positives and negatives
Limitations of tests for certain patients
Human error in examining slides
7. Pharmaceutical industry mistakes
Naming similarities
Inadequate safety testing
8. Hospital mistakes
Nosocomial infections
Surgical mistakes : Errors in transferring and re-labeling of medications
Medication errors: Wrong medication, wrong dosage, wrong patient, wrong time
9. Surgical mistakes
Wrong surgery
Right surgery, wrong site
Medication error before, during or after surgery
Heealthy.com has a patient centric mission to make sure these mistakes do not happen when you are going for a surgery and beyond. Let us know if you are in need of superlative care for yourself or your loved ones.