Question

Why do hospitals make mistakes?

Answer 1

Solution:

Hospitals certainly save lives. But sometimes they hurt people. Even kill them. That’s because - like all of us - doctors and nurses make mistakes, and even seemingly tiny ones can cause infections and other medical problems that put lives in jeopardy.

When you’re admitted to a hospital, you expect your health to improve. But that’s often not what happens: It has been estimated that up to 440,000 Americans die each year after experiencing a hospital-­based medical mistake. That makes those errors the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease and cancer.

Whether a death is due to a patient being given the wrong drug or developing an infection because a doctor failed to wash his or her hands, many are preventable. Here’s what you need to know about five all-too-common medical mistakes:

Falls may not seem like medical mistakes, but they often are. That's because there are a number of steps hospitals can and should take to reduce the risk of the mishaps. In fact, about a million hospitalized Americans fall each year, and at least a third of those accidents could be prevented, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

More than half of all hospital patients get antibiotics—and up to 50 percent of the time they’re not needed or patients receive the wrong one, according to the CDC. Overuse of those drugs can breed bacteria that are resistant "superbugs," bacteria that are resistant to several antibiotics, making infections hard to treat

Drug errors or drug-related injuries are one of the most serious medical mistakes that can happen in hospitals, occurring in about half of surgeries.

How many hospital patients are injured or killed as a result of hospital errors? “We do not really know how many people die or suffer needlessly, Infections are a major concern. The CDC estimates that 722,000 healthcare-acquired infections occurred in 2011, and about 75,000 of those patients died.

Following concerns are also there

1] Dirty hands are deadly

One of the most important tools for protecting patients against hospital-acquired infections is also one of the simplest: washing with soap. Health care providers are supposed to wash their hands immediately before they touch a patient. But how can you be sure there are no germs on the hands of the smiling doctor who just entered your room?

OK, so doctors and nurses are supposed to clean their hands before (and after) touching patients. But should they be using soap - or alcohol gel? It doesn’t matter. Both have been shown to be effective at killing germs.

2] Catheters and tubes

Urinary catheters sure aren’t fun, but they are sometimes essential for hospitalized patients. Then again, catheters can give infectious germs a easy route into the body - so they should be kept in place only as long as they are absolutely necessary. And urinary catheters aren’t the only offenders. “If you have a bladder catheter, a breathing tube, or a vascular catheter, ask every day if you still need it,

3] ICU need a specialist

If you or someone you love is admitted to the intensive care unit, make sure the care is being overseen by a critical care specialist. Studies have shown that ICU patients whose care isn’t overseen by such a specialist are 30 percent more likely to die. Primary-care doctors and surgeons are great, but critical care specialists have what it takes to give ICU patients the best shot at survival.