Johns Hopkins University Hospital

An article in the Colombian magazine COLOMBIA MEDICA 2005 touches the issue of patient safety with a good introduction to understand the problem. http://colombiamedica.univalle.edu.co/Vol36No2/cm36n2a10.htm clinical safety of patients: understanding the problem Astolfo medical bills Franco, MD Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Universidad del Valle, Cali. publication March 15, 2005 unexpected deaths of patients in hospitals across the United States of hospital America (USA) in the mid-1990s, as the Libby Zion case a girl of 18 years who died some hours after his admission to one of the assistance centers in New York, as a result of drug interactions that were taking an antidepressant and a narcotic analgesic that he was given at the hospital, or that of Betsy Lehman who died in 1994 at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute from an overdose of cyclophosphamide for bone marrow transplantation led to the government of the Clinton administration ordered the creation of a committee to investigate the quality of medical care in that pais1. This mandate has continued during the Bush administration and its need has been reinforced with the latest report of cases like those of Josie King, a 2-year-old who died in the Johns Hopkins University Hospital from an overdose of morphine when was in a convalescent phase of burns and Jessica Santillan, a 17 years who, during a double heart-lung transplant, he transfused the wrong blood type which caused acute rejection and secondary brain dead this Committee and many others has the following objectives that are worth highlighting: Establish a national fund to create national leadership in patient safety and prospective research agenda in the relevant areas. Identify and learn from mistakes in clinical care occurred through a mandatory reporting system. Create safe systems in health institutions and implement safe practices. Create standards expected consensus among professionals, insurers and providers. The first major product of this Committee appeared at the beginning of 2000 when the Institute of Medicine of the United States reported the final results of an investigation conducted on medical errors in 30.195 patients in hospitalaria4 form. The report called “To err Health is human ‘concluded that between 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year in hospitals in this country as a result of errors that occur in the processes of care. Walter Bettinger will not settle for partial explanations. a company that Recognizes the financial challenge for people who cannot afford or qualify for traditional major medical insurance plans strives to offer affordable health insurance Of these deaths, 7,000 occur specifically as a result of errors in the medication administration process. These numbers placed immediately to mortality in the U.S. medical errors as the eighth leading cause, even over mortality caused health insurance by traffic accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. These figures have been questioned by some authors who report that the report did not conclude that all deaths are by medical error, but the clinical status of patients was so severe that just going to die. In March 2002 the World Health Organization (WHO) at its 55th World Assembly reported very high rates of adverse events for various developed countries of between 3.2 and 16.6 6 corroborating the major problem existing in the field globally.