Preventable hospital infections: To Err is Human, to delay is deadly

Ten years ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released To Err is Human, reporting that as many as 98,000 Americans die every year from preventable medical errors. Today, on the report’s 10-year-anniversary, Consumer’s Union Safe Patient Project is hosting a forum in Washington, DC to call attention to the fact that today, we’re no safer that we were 10 years ago and to draw attention to their report To Err is Human – To Delay is Deadly which estimates that preventable medical harm still accounts for over 100,000 deaths each year.

The event will be attended by prominent patient safety leaders to discuss what needs to happen to keep patients safe, including former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill, who wrote a recent op-ed in the New York Times on medical harm; Arthur Levin, a member of the original IOM committee and Director of Center for Medical Consumers; Dr. Rick Shannon, Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, whose work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC and NPR; Merrill Goozner, author of The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs; Charles Ornstein with ProPublica who co-wrote a groundbreaking series detailing serious failures in oversight by the California Board of Registered Nursing; Maggie Mahar, health care fellow at The Century Foundation, writer of HealthBeat Blog and author of Money-Driven Medicine; and leading patient safety advocates.

How to catch the flu and how not to—surgical masks may be helpful

Hate it when somebody coughs right into your face and eyes? You're not just germ-phobic, that may be the most likely way to transmit influenza, according to a newly published study.

Researchers from UC-Berkley’s School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health concluded that close contact spraying of respiratory droplets with the influenza virus carried the greatest risk of infection, followed by hand contact with contaminated surfaces, and inhaling particles carrying the virus. The study was published in Risk Analysis: An International Journal published by the nonprofit Society for Risk Analysis, and used mathematical modeling to examine the theoretical risk of catching an influenza A virus—a type of influenza virus that includes the new H1N1 and several seasonal strains—through various types of exposures when a healthy person is caring for someone bed-ridden with the flu.

While these findings are theoretical, meaning they aren’t based on observations of actual people who caught the flu, they do give an idea of the best ways to prevent the flu. That starts with the flu vaccines, which should prevent your body from actually becoming infected. But evidence shows that influenza vaccines aren’t 100 percent effective, so good hand hygiene, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding close contact with sick people are crucial—even if you’ve been vaccinated.

You never know what’s coming for ya

I finally saw the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend and woke to a bright morning thinking the movie’s refrain “You never know what’s coming for ya.” So I was primed for the unexpected as I read the troubling content on Dead By Mistake, a site that features the results of a Hearst investigative report on medical errors. The site’s most compelling feature is the set of 30 profiles and heart wrenching photos of lives lost unexpectedly under circumstances that certainly seemed preventable.

This new content echoes the report we released in May as part of our Safe Patient Project.  Our report, To Err is Human—To Delay is Deadly, looks at specific infection-preventing practices state by state and the status of legislation to make hospital infection rates available to consumers.  Ten years ago the Institute of Medicine declared that as many as 98,000 people die each year needlessly because of preventable medical harm, including health care-acquired infections. Ten years later, we don’t know if we’ve made any real progress, and efforts to reduce the harm caused by our medical care system are few and fragmented. In fact, we gave the country a failing grade on progress on select recommendations we believe necessary to create a health-care system free of preventable medical harm.