-Caveat Lector- http://www.sightings.com/general10/95.htm 95 Percent Of US Doctors Have Seen Medical Errors By Will Dunham 5-9-1 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some 95 percent of doctors say they personally have witnessed a serious medical error, according to a survey on quality in the U.S. health care industry released on Tuesday. Six hundred doctors, 400 registered nurses and 200 senior-level hospital executives were questioned in the survey released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which sponsors health care research. Asked whether they had seen ``major quality of care or medical mistakes,'' 4 percent of doctors said they had witnessed them frequently, 27 percent said occasionally and 64 percent said infrequently. The survey did not define specifically what entailed a major mistake. Among the nurses asked the same question, 89 percent said they had witnessed a mistake, with 71 percent saying it was infrequent, 15 percent occasional and 3 percent frequent. Some 82 percent of hospital executives also said they had seen a major medical mistake (1 percent frequent, 13 percent occasional and 67 percent infrequent). Experts said in a 1999 report that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 people annually, with up to 7,000 of those deaths resulting from mistakes in prescribing or dispensing drugs. Those questioned in the survey generally gave high marks to quality of the U.S. health care system in terms of safety, effectiveness, timeliness and other measures. Some 80 percent said it was either very good or excellent (42 percent) or good (38 percent), while 18 percent rated it fair and 2 percent rated it poor. ``The quality-of-care problems in American medicine are rooted in the culture of medicine, which has emphasized individual performances over teams and systems; in the structure and infrastructure of our organizations and institutions; and in our payment systems, which do not promote quality care,'' Lewis Sandy, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said during a news conference. ``To many observers of the health care system, and to many within it, these problems are so complicated that they seem able to thwart every effort to significantly improve the quality of care.'' The survey, conducted by polling firm Wirthlin Worldwide, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. In conjunction with the release of the survey, the foundation announced the launch of a $20.9 million initiative in which six hospitals and doctors' organizations will be given grants of up to $3 million to perform work aimed at improving the quality of health care in America. Most Doctors And Nurses Say They've Witnessed Mistakes By Todd Zwillich 5-9-1 WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - The vast majority of doctors and nurses say they have personally witnessed a ``serious'' medical mistake, according to a national survey released on Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More than 70% of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and hospital executives, believe that fundamental changes to the American healthcare system are needed in order to improve the quality of care they deliver to patients. Another 11% of respondents in the survey said that the system's quality flaws are so deep that a complete overhaul is needed to remedy them. ``Healthcare is in trouble. The quality is not what we need it to be and people in healthcare know that,'' said Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, an organization that is cooperating with the foundation to promote better quality. According to the survey, 95% of doctors and 89% of nurses have witnessed a serious medical error. Lapses in the healthcare system reached national attention in November 1999 when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report blaming medical errors for up to 98,000 deaths per year. Another IOM report early this year called for sweeping changes to the US healthcare system, from the way researchers conduct and report clinical trials to the way healthcare providers monitor the quality of their own care. Researchers conducted the survey among 600 doctors, 400 nurses, and 200 top-level hospital executives from around the nation. The survey defined quality healthcare as care that is safe, effective, timely, patient-centered, efficient and equitable. Based on those criteria, 58% of those asked said that the quality of the US healthcare system is good or fair, with 2% saying it is poor. Forty-two percent said that the system had very good or excellent quality. ``In almost any industry, this lukewarm self-assessment would be seen as a sign of serious shortcomings,'' said David Richardson, the executive vice president of Wirthin Worldwide, a New York-based research firm that conducted the survey for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation used the survey to draw attention to a $21 million initiative it is starting along with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (HIA) designed to encourage quality-improvement measures by hospitals and physicians organizations. The plan will give organizations up to $3 million over 2 years to foster innovation in the delivery accurate care, minimizing prescription errors, cutting unnecessary or excessive care. The grant plan has already received 226 applications and expects to award the money by March 2002, said Thomas W. Nolan the initiative's co-director. Nolan and others said that the goal of the plan is to set the bar for healthcare services to as near perfect as possible. ``We face big changes ahead if we're going to solve the quality problems that have been outlined by the Institute of Medicine,'' Berwick said. ``We've calibrated ourselves to a lower standard.'' <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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