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IOM report authors give healthcare improvements C+

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, November 9, 2004

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The nation's healthcare system rates a C+ at best when it comes to cutting its medical error rate in half, according to authors of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 1999 report "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System."

"If one of my kids came home from school with a C+, we'd have a stern talk about the need to do better," Robert Wachter, a medical expert at the University of California at San Francisco, and co-author of the institute's report told The Kansas City Star.

The IOM report estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. The report prompted Congress to call for cutting the error rate in half, but the report's authors cite a lack of funding and national commitment as reasons for falling short of the goal five years later.

For example, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which conducts medical safety research for the federal government, has a budget of only $60 million this year, said Lucian Leape, MD, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and a co-author of the report.

The IOM study said most medical errors resulted from basic flaws in the healthcare system, such as poor tracking of drugs and patient records. It recommended a national patient safety center, mandatory reporting of errors, a stronger focus on information technology, and the creation of a "culture of safety" focused on tracking, reporting, and taking steps to reduce errors.

The report's authors said many doctors and hospitals still resist attempts to create a "culture of safety."

Some health systems are taking steps to reduce medical errors, however. Douglas McCarthy, president of Issues Research, a Colorado-based health-care research firm, told The Kansas City Star about hospitals where teams of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians meet each day to review patient records and develop care plans.

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