"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient."
The ethical and legal issues surrounding medical errors, patient safety, and malpractice.
Definition of medical error: This topic explains what a medical error is, how it is defined, and the types of errors that can occur in a medical setting.
Causes of medical errors: This topic explores the root causes of medical errors, including communication breakdown, staffing issues, system errors, and human factors.
Impact of medical errors: This topic discusses the impact of medical errors on patients, healthcare providers, healthcare organizations, and the healthcare system.
Prevention of medical errors: This topic explores strategies that can be used to prevent medical errors, including the use of checklists, team training, communication protocols, and electronic health records.
Reporting and disclosure of medical errors: This topic covers the ethical and legal considerations related to reporting and disclosing medical errors, including the importance of transparency, honesty, and communication.
Patient safety culture: This topic discusses the importance of creating a patient safety culture in healthcare organizations, including the role of leadership, communication, and teamwork.
Medical malpractice: This topic explores the legal and ethical implications of medical malpractice, including the elements of a malpractice claim, the standard of care, and the damages that can be awarded.
Medical ethics: This topic covers the principles of medical ethics, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, and their role in preventing medical errors and malpractice.
Professionalism in healthcare: This topic covers the importance of professionalism in healthcare, including the role of ethics, communication, and patient-centered care.
Healthcare quality improvement: This topic explores the various methodologies used in healthcare quality improvement, including lean principles, process mapping, and data analysis.
Diagnostic Errors: Failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, or delayed diagnosis can lead to inappropriate or inadequate treatment, and often result in serious consequences.
Treatment Errors: Treatment errors include not properly giving medication, giving medication in incorrect dosages, providing the wrong type of treatment, improper use of medical devices and instruments, and other errors in delivering treatment.
Surgical Errors: These errors include operating on the wrong patient or wrong site, leaving surgical instruments inside the body, performing surgery on the wrong limb or organ, or other surgical-related mistakes.
Communication Errors: Miscommunication among healthcare providers, patient or caregivers can lead to serious consequences like delayed diagnosis, incorrect treatment or errors in medical charts and records.
Medication Errors: Prescribing wrong medication, giving incorrect medication or dose, or misinterpreting medication orders can lead to serious harm or even death.
Obstetrical Errors: Errors during childbirth like improper use of medical instruments or failing to monitor the fetus and its mother can result in adverse outcomes.
Anesthesia Errors: Giving too much or too little anesthesia, failure to monitor the patient, or errors in administering anesthesia can lead to serious injuries or even death.
Record-Keeping Errors: Errors in medical documentation, medical coding errors, or incomplete medical records can lead to medication errors, diagnosis errors or inappropriate treatment.
Infection Control Errors: Infections are a significant risk in any healthcare setting. Failure to follow infection control protocols and practices can lead to the spread of infections such as bloodborne pathogens.
Quality of Care Errors: Breaches in the agreed-upon standard of care or ethical standards due to neglect or substandard practice.
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection, or other ailment."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis")."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis..."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis..."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete...treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection, or other ailment."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a...behavior."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a...infection."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of...other ailment."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care..."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care..."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care..."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis..."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis..."
"This might include an inaccurate or incomplete...treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome..."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care...harmful to the patient."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care...harmful to the patient."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care...whether or not it is evident..."
"A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care...whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient."