Surgery on the wrong body part occurs more often than people think. This can be prevented by the surgeon marking the body part to be operated on while the patient is still awake and can confirm the surgical site.
Additionally, before any cut is made in the OR, the doctor, scrub nurse, and anesthesiologist are supposed to take a 'time out' to confirm that they are performing the right operation on the right body part of the right patient.
There are eight different blood types that exist in human beings. Depending on an individual's blood type, they can only receive certain blood types. If a patient is given an incompatible blood type, the error could result in death.
Before giving a patient blood, the healthcare professional should test the patient's blood to determine their blood type. More importantly, before the blood is hung to be given to a patient, the label on the blood bag should be checked to ensure it is compatible with the patient's blood type.
Misdiagnosis can leave potentially life threatening diseases untreated. To avoid missing a serious diagnosis, doctors will engage in defensive medicine in which they give the patient more tests than are necessary to ensure that they did not miss anything in their assessment. Defensive medicine results in many unnecessary, costly tests.
On the other hand, misdiagnosis can lead to serious illness, disability, or death if a physician overlooks a serious problem or symptom. Healthcare professionals need to find a balance between the excessive tests in defensive medicine and what is clinically necessary.
Falls are very common in hospitals. Side effects of medications, muscle atrophy, and fatigue can all cause patients to be unsteady on their feet. Patients are encouraged to call for a nurse to help them when they wish to get out of bed.
Falls can lead to injuries such as broken bones, head trauma, and death. A patient may need to increase their length of stay in the hospital after a fall to receive additional medical attention for the injuries caused by the fall.
Medication errors are one of the most common medical errors. Patients can be given the wrong medication, the wrong dosage, the wrong concentration, or have the medication given at the wrong time.
Communication between the prescribing physician, nurses, pharmacists, and patient allow room for multiple misinterpretations and misreadings of prescriptions.
Always double check with your pharmacist or nurse that the medication you are being given is indeed what your doctor ordered.
Unintentional retention of a foreign body after surgery is an error for which there is no excuse. There is a designated nurse in the OR whose job is to count all instruments before the procedure begins and again before the wound is closed up to ensure that all instruments are accounted for.
Patients have gone years before realizing that something was left behind in their body following an operation. Clamps, sponges, towels, and other surgical materials have all been found in patients after procedures.
Some hospitals will x-ray patients following a surgical procedure to ensure that there is nothing left in the patient.
Contaminated drugs and devices can spread infections and result in further complications or death. Needles are frequently used in the medical setting. Most needles are made to be disposed of after one use.
Two patients should never be injected with the same needle unless it has been properly sterilized first because it can spread disease from the first patient to the second. The needles should be disposed of in a biohazard sharps container (the red box pictured in the background) to contain any germs that may be on the needle after it is used.
Other instruments such as scalpels, clamps, machinery, and other reusable instruments should be sterilized before use.
Although it is rare, infants have been discharged from the hospital with the wrong parents. Identification bracelets placed on both the mother and infant that are checked before discharge are instrumental in preventing this error.
Additionally, only patients and families should have access to the hospital nursery to prevent others from possibly stealing a baby. Some hospitals lock the nursery or place special bands on the babies that set off an alarm if they leave the designated area.
Losing or switching a baby at the hospital is a rare but serious problem that is easily preventable.