Nursing

New patient safety bill receives support

Nurse Leader Weekly, February 2, 2004

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Last week, a New Jersey state senate committee unanimously approved a bill to improve patient safety by increasing reporting of medical errors. The panel also heard testimony on how hospitals could prevent cases similar to that of Charles Cullen, the nurse who has claimed to have killed up to 40 patients at different hospitals over 16 years.

State officials acknowledge that the current medical reporting system is inadequate. Clifton R. Lacy, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Senior Services, said that "there is significant underreporting of errors" in New Jersey and around the country.

Because of fear of lawsuits and other penalties, "only the most egregious errors are ever revealed," Lacy told the state senate's committee on health, human services and senior citizens. "We must change from a culture of blame and punishment to a culture of performance improvement and safety."

Under the bill, sponsored by State Senator Joseph F. Vitale (D), all licensed health care facilities would be required to report serious preventable errors to the state and to patients. The bill would allow health care professionals to report anonymously to the state about problems not subject to mandatory reporting. Hospitals also would be required to create patient safety committees to formulate plans on how to avoid errors in the future.

To encourage better disclosure, the state would keep reported information confidential and would not subject the reporter to civil or criminal proceedings. To avoid lawsuits, experts said, hospitals provide only dates of employment and do not reveal problems they may have had with a former worker.

State Attorney General Peter C. Harvey told the committee that the problem would ultimately need to be addressed on a federal level, because health care professionals can move from state to state, as Cullen did.

On that front, U.S. Senators Jon S. Corzine and Frank R. Lautenberg, both New Jersey Democrats, have said that they want to create a mandatory national tracking system for nurses.

Health care industry professionals said hospitals need some protection from lawsuits to provide performance information on former employees to future employers.

Source: http://www.philly.com.



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