STAT February 17, 2023
A recent study of medical error published in The New England Journal of Medicine reached a shocking conclusion about patient safety: Nearly a quarter century after a highly publicized Institute of Medicine report on the prevalence of patient harm sparked vows to cut the rate by half in five years, “in-hospital adverse events” remain so common that they affect roughly one in four patients. At larger institutions, the rate can be 40% or higher.
“The safety movement has, at best, stalled,” an accompanying editorial acknowledged, while urging hospital leaders to hold themselves accountable to a “sacred obligation.”
Protecting patients from harm may be sacred, but what actually happens on the front lines of care is too often profane. Harvard’s Dr....
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