Canadian hospital death toll alarming

[Guest guest]

Hospital death toll alarming

By KRISTEN ENEVOLD, CALGARY SUN

Sun, May 23, 2004

Thousands of hospitalized Canadians have needlessly died because of what

the medical community calls " adverse events, " authors of a first-time

national study have revealed. And the figures are troubling, Calgary

Health Region officials admit.

" Certainly, there's work that needs to be done in patient-safety areas,

and I think studies like this are going to help focus our attention and

efforts on patient safety -- there's progress to be made here, " said

Jack , CHR president and CEO. " Canada does compare favourably on

patient safety rates, compared with other countries. "

Led by University of Calgary researcher Dr. Norton and a Toronto

colleague, The Canadian Adverse Events Study suggests between 9,250 and

23,750 hospital deaths could have been prevented in the fiscal year

2000.

Almost one in 13 people, admitted to hospital nationwide that year,

experienced some kind of adverse event. The most serious cases ranged

from an abdominal aneurysm that was diagnosed as a kidney stone, causing

the death of one patient, to the unscheduled removal of ovaries in what

was meant to be a partial hysterectomy.

While most who experienced an adverse event didn't suffer permanent

disability, 37% of cases were found to be entirely preventable.

The study comes in the midst of an independent review to be completed

for the CHR in June, after dialysis patients Kathleen Prowse and Bart

Wassing died earlier this year.

Both received potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride at Foothills

Hospital during their treatments, several days apart.

Another official believes eliminating a culture within the medical

community that prevents people from reporting errors is key to making

sure such incidents never happen.

" It's a really important, but a really tough thing to do, " said Dr. Ward

Flemons, chairman of the CHR's patient safety task group.

said the region will now find ways to implement both reports into

its operations.

The study will appear in this month's issue of the Canadian Medical

Association Journal.

- - -

MEDICAL MISTAKES

* One in 13 people who go into hospital suffer an adverse event.

* Based on 2.5-million admissions in 2000, that means 140,000 to 232,000

people suffered them.

* 37% of those were preventable.

* These events added an average of six days to a hospital stay.

* One in five people who had an adverse event went on to die; 9% of

adverse events were categorized as highly preventable.

* The most common types of adverse events related to surgeries, followed

by drug- or fluid-related events.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/05/23/470071.html

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org