Medical Error Prevention

Course overview

Do no harm: A fundamental principle of medical care, yet thousands of patients suffer harm from medical errors every day. Some reports estimate annual deaths from medical errors in the U.S. to be as high as 250,000, but a more recent study revealed that number may be highly inflated (Rodwin et al., 2020). The actual number of preventable deaths estimated by a meta-analysis was 22,165, with most occurring in people expected to have less than 3 months to live. For those who were expected to live longer than 3 months, 7,150 deaths occurred. The difference may be due to over-estimation or from initiatives to reduce errors since initial values were released. Regardless, healthcare professionals are obliged to do no harm, so continued efforts are needed to reduce medical errors. This course is intended to educate nurses, physicians, and physician assistants on the causes and strategies for preventing medical errors.