A study last week in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates that somewhere between 210,000 and 444,000 preventable deaths occur annually in our nation's hospitals — the low end more than double the often-quoted 98,000 estimated by the seminal 1999 Institute of Medicine "To Err is Human" report.
The new estimate, by John T. James, PhD, a NASA scientist who founded the advocacy organization Patient Safety America, was based on an examination of four studies on preventable medical errors. According to Sabrina Rodak, who covered the study's findings on our website (bolding mine):
"A weighted average of these studies revealed that at least 210,000 deaths were associated with preventable adverse events in hospitals each year. However, the [Global Trigger Tool, the tool used to determine the number of errors] does not identify diagnostic errors or errors of omission, including failure to follow guidelines, and medical records often do not include all adverse events, according to the study. When accounting for these missed errors, the estimated number of deaths linked to preventable adverse events balloons to 440,000 — about 4.5 times the IOM estimate and approximately one-sixth of all annual U.S. deaths."
Thus, the new study places the number of annual deaths as high as 444,000 — a frightening number. If correct, it would make medical errors the third top cause of death in America, according to a report on the study by ProPublica.
But, should the new estimate be believed?
While the American Hospital Association said it has more confidence in the IOM's estimate, three separate patient safety researchers, at the request of ProPublica, examined Dr. James' methods and determined his findings to be credible.
As I explored in a previous blog post, the continuation of such a high number of errors year after year is a major failure of our healthcare delivery system. Our industry must begin to implement serious changes, taking a cue from other industries that have successfully reduced errors, to eliminate preventable harm. After all, preventable harm represents an absolute failure of the missions that guide so many of our nation's hospitals and healthcare institutions.