Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Patients perspective on an adverse event


The term “adverse event” describes harm to a patient as a result of medical care. In the IOM report, To Err Is Human, an estimated 98,000 people die from medical errors each year. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 5 Million Lives Campaign calculated that there are approximately 15 million adverse medical events each year, 6 million of which cause harm to the patient resulting in a significant deviation in the patient care process. (Berwick, 2007)
This week we were asked to write about why or why not the perspective of the patient is most important determinant as to whether an adverse event has occurred. I believe the patient’s perspective is important but not the most or only opinion needed. If an adverse event were to occur it could be traumatic and even life threatening for the patient and their family.  The possible party at fault should be held accountable otherwise there could be even more deaths occurring as a result and the level of healthcare would decrease.
It is imperative that a determinant be made so that the information will help experts gain an understanding of the issue at hand and documents it so the chances of it happening again can be avoided.
If a patient feels that an adverse event has occurred management should listen to their concerns, in hopes to understand and learn from the situation and determine the level of seriousness and how it should be dealt with. But at the same time, because the event has occurred the patient can experience feelings like anger or depression that would prevent them from giving a non-biased opinion.  Further depression from such a traumatic event could even lead to suicide, thus increasing the mortality rate.
 Medical experts and the facilities involved in such an event also deserve to get to the root cause of the error. They are the ones that have to be concerned with a possible malpractice suit or decrease in reputation that may lead to financial losses. And it is possible that the traumatic event was not necessarily caused directly by the event/doctors and instead by an unforeseen circumstance.
In summary the perspective of all parties involved should be taken into consideration when trying to identify and correct an adverse event.  In this way there is no bias or blaming of sides, each party gets their ‘day in court’, and there is accountability for the high quality of care that is expected.


Reference:

Berwick DM. Can health care ever be safe? Ideas from the “5 Million Lives Campaign.”    
Presentation at IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care 2007.
Retrieved at: Webcast available at: http://www.ihi.org/
IHI/Programs/ConferencesAndSeminars/International
ForumonQualityandSafetyinHealthCare2007. htm?player=wmp.