Hospital Teamwork Breakdowns Cause Most Medical Errors

When we go to the hospital, we don't like the idea of doctors-in-training "practicing" on us, but that is exactly what happens. Due to lack of experience, supervision, and breakdowns of the team structures, these trainees are very prone to making errors with your health, according to a study funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Patient handoffs are a major point of concern where these errors are taking place.

The study is called, "Medical Errors Involving Trainees: A Study of Closed Malpractice Claims from 5 Insurers", and it focuses on four categories which include obstetrics, surgical, missed and delayed diagnosis, and medications. These four categories cover about 80 percent of the malpractice claims in the U.S. The results of this study concluded that 27 percent or 240 cases directly involved trainees that had a significant role to play in the case. The outcomes of these cases were often serious resulting in significant physical injury, major physical injury, and even death. Teamwork is a vital necessity in running any kind of workplace.

There is definitely a close relationship with teamwork being non existent and more than the usual mistakes being made. A good team is needed to significantly cut down on these sometimes fatal errors in the medical field. Researchers also looked closer into cognitive factors to see what part they played in these unfortunate cases. The results were astounding. The majority of the trainees errors involved judgement, 58 percent due to lack of technical training, and memory was also a cause for over half of the errors. Expert supervision played a role, also. If the attending or senior resident physicians would strive to check and make sure the trainees are on track, many of these accidents wouldn't have happened, according to the researchers findings.

Communication appears to be another real missing link in the prevention of these accidents. Patient handoffs were mainly caused due to lack of or improper communication between trainees and other medical personnel. Seems these problems are also occurring in nurses, lab personnel, and even on the senior resident level.

These problems seem to be widespread but they are being addressed. Residency programs are being urged to increase training programs in these areas. This study is one training tool being used to alert medical personnel in their early years of training to the seriousness of these matters. These conclusions are very serious, but the good news, they are preventable.

Sources

"Many Errors by Medical Residents Caused by Teamwork Breakdowns, Lack of Supervision"
URL:(http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-22-2007/0004687213&EDATE)