A Year After "Dead by Mistake" and 11 After "To Err is Human"

"Health care reform consumed the nation for the last 12 months but, despite all the talk, the country took only baby steps toward reducing medical errors that injure and kill millions of hospital patients."

In a new Times-Union article, writers Cathleen Crowley and Eric Nalder take a look back at the year following the Hearst Newspapers series, "Dead by Mistake."  With estimates of about 200,000 deaths per year caused by avoidable mistakes and hospital-acquired infections, it's clear that patients are still facing severe risks.

Click here to read the story.

The "Dead by Mistake" series debuted last year during the 10th anniversary year of the Institute of Medicine's "To Err is Human" report.  Last December, INQRI hosted a two week blog series, commemorating that anniversary. 

Click here to read the posts. 

We have also recently published a booklet of the posts.  To receive a copy, please contact Heather Kelley.

10 Years after "To Err is Human"

According to "Dead by Mistake," an investigation undertaken by the Hearst Corporation, an estimated 200,000 Americans will die from preventable medical mistakes and hospital infections this year. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released "To Err is Human", a report which outlined a comprehensive strategy which could be used to reduce preventable medical errors. The report stated that the "know-how already exists to prevent many of these mistakes," and set a goal of 50% error reduction over the next five years. It is now ten years later and Hearst states that "98,000 Americans die from preventable medical errors each year and just as many from hospital-acquired infections." To read more about the Hearst investigation, click here.

Last year, INQRI researchers David Thompson, Jill Marsteller, Bryan Sexton and Peter Pronovost completed their project, "Linking Blood Stream Infection Rates to Intensive Care." The goal of this study was to implement a comprehensive safety program including an evidence based intervention to reduce central line-associated blood stream infections while examining the context of nursing care delivery on patient outcomes. This interdisciplinary research team used the expertise of nurses to develop and deliver a quality improvement initiative that reflects the positive clinical contributions of nurses in the critical care setting. Using their intervention, central line blood stream infections were practically eliminated. Click here to learn more about their project.