Question

Your instructor was invited to give an opinion as a patient advocate at a retreat organized by

agencies of the federal government, such as the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services,

the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Office of Health and Human

Resources. The topic was a Partnership for Patients. The Agency for Healthcare Research and

Quality (AHRQ) showed the data on hospital survey measures. The data showed that

significant progress was made in the last four years and that more and more hospitals are

achieving higher scores.

The instructor asked a simple question, "If there is so much progress made in critical hospital measures, then why is the number of patients dying from hospital mistakes significantly going up every year?" The estimated deaths in 2010 were 99,000 deaths. The 2016 estimate is about 440,000 deaths.

In this discussion, explain the reasons you think there are more deaths in spite of the significant progress in hospital performance measures. Then, provide one remedy or solution. Include two references to support your opinions.

Answer 1

Hospital mistakes are one of the leading cause of deaths of patients in United States. There are more deaths in spite of the significant progress in hospital performance measures. Deaths due to medical errors have increased significantly in the recent years. It might be due to the inadequately skilled staff, a system defect, error in judgment, error in care or a preventable adverse effects. Deaths may occur due to the lack of proper communication between the patients and doctors /nurses /other health workers. Deaths might be due to computer / technical breakdowns, undiagnosed surgical complications, alterations in doses and the types of medications, etc.

There are some solutions or remedies to this serious problems which can control the deaths of the patients due to hospital mistakes. There should be back up for all important electronic records related to the patients so that they can be retrieved in situation of technical breakdowns. Hospital staffs should be adequately skilled. Doses and types of the medicines should be used very carefully. There should be good communication between the patients and health workers. Surgical complications should be properly diagnosed. However, humans make mistakes, effective laws and policy should be implemented on hospitals to prevent deaths due to hospital mistakes.

References :

• www. hospitalsafetygrade. org
• ​​​​​​www. sciencedaily. com

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