Medical error is commonly defined as “the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim.” Medical errors that result in injury are called preventable adverse events.
According to a 2015 article by two prominent patient safety researchers, “The exact number of preventable deaths is difficult to estimate because valid and standardized measures for the major causes of preventable death are lacking and because it is difficult to separate inevitable from preventable harm.”
Yet it’s clear that preventable harm is common and often undetected. A rigorous review of medical records by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital estimated that 7% of hospitalized patients experienced preventable adverse events. Such incidents can have devastating emotional consequences for patients, families, and clinicians.
Recognition that all clinicians commit errors has led to efforts to move the health care industry away from punitive “blaming and shaming” of people in favor of promoting a culture of transparency and systemic improvement. However, resistance to such change persists. A criminal conviction of a Tennessee nurse for administering the wrong drug to a patient, which resulted in the patient’s death, has come under heavy fire by clinician and patient safety groups.