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.
