Causes and Effects of Medical Errors in the United States
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Causes and Effects of Medical Errors in the United States
Every country is made up of various sectors which are important in helping its citizens in different ways. The US is one of the countries in the world which has multiple sectors that try to meet the needs of the citizen. One of the most critical areas is the health sector. The health sector is the most important sector in the United States because it deals with the provision of health care services which ensures that every person is in good condition (Cheragi, & Manoocheri, 2013)
. The country has taken various measures to ensure that health care services are available and accessible to every people. This approach has made it easy for them to provide affordable health care services and deal with different diseases appropriately. As much as a lot of attention has been placed on the medical sector, there have been certain shortcomings which have been experienced due to medical errors. Various medical errors have been encountered in health care facilities due to certain factors, and they have had some effects on the provision of health care.
According to Bari, Khan, & Rathore (2016), one of the causes of medical errors in the United States is inadequate experience. Health care is an area which requires individuals who do not have enough experienced so that they can provide appropriate medical services to the patients. However, it some cases there are individuals who do not have the required experience to handle various activities within the medical facilities. Some of these individuals might have graduated from medical school, and they are learning how to provide services to the client. As a result of inexperience that these individuals have, some of them might end up providing the wrong medicine or wrong prescription to the patients. The main effect that could result from this error is that a patient might take the wrong dosage for a particular condition and he or she will not get well. In other cases, a patient can be given wrong medication which might lead to other conditions that might be difficult to treat.
The other cause of medical errors in the United States is inadequate supervision. Supervision in the health care sector is an important activity. This activity enables the supervisors to oversee the kind of activities or procedures being undertaken by medical professionals. Supervisions ensure that every activity is done in the right way and that no error is found that may affect medical care. There are times when there could be little or no supervision within the medical centers. Lack of supervision may cause some medical officers not to work to their expected level, and they may provide poor services such as giving the patient medications without carefully assessing and testing them. This issue will affect that some of the patients will be given wrong medication which cannot deal with the condition they have. As a result, their health will continue worsening. Also, the lack of supervision will result in medical errors because there will be no one to identify any mistake and correct it. Therefore, if a medical officer is undertaking a procedure that is wrong unknowingly, he or she will continue with it because there will be no one to detect and inform him or her. This issue will affect the patient being treated as the condition will not be dealt with appropriately.
Negative emotion is the third factor that has contributed to medical errors in the US. People conduct and react to actions in different ways. This reaction of people will result in behavioral changes and emotions in medical practitioners. In medical practice, residents and doctors interact in many ways since most of the time the medical cases are interconnected. Some patients could have conditions that are not solved through single analysis. A series of web interconnections force doctors to refer their patients to other specialists. This issue becomes critical and at the same time important to maintain a good relationship with each other. Life is not always smooth, but on the contrary, it is sinusoidal. The attitude that these medical professionals have towards each other deteriorates the existing relationship. The result of this is that it will be challenging to conduct efficient medical tests. An extreme situation for this is improper and shoddy work. In medicine, we are dealing with human life. Simple mistakes will lead to heaps of complications and even death. Emotions arise from how we react to how we are treated. It is never a smooth curvy road in the hospital. At times people get over themselves and act beyond their norm. Emotions result in attitude and also brings about behavioral change. Behavioral change makes it difficult to discern how things would run. As a result, there will be a decrease in trust and efficiency in the work environment. When emotions overcome a person during a medical procedure, a halt to work may be because since it is like the person is not even there. He or she becomes unable to carry out the expected duties.
Technology is the fourth issue which has contributed to medical errors in the US (Crane, & Crane 2008). Even though the US is a sophisticated country known for its development, there are instances where hospitals lack facilities and the required technology to conduct a diagnosis. Civilization has been moving from the east to the west now it is going back to the east. As patients flock hospitals, there exists no constancy on the type of medical issue they have, but on the contrary, there is a wide variety of problems. As patients undergo their treatment, a further diagnosis might be required depending on the complexity of the problem. Proper technology is used to ascertain the conditions that have to be present (Crane, & Crane 2008). It is not always that hospitals have all the facilities. At times patients get referred to other hospitals where the technology is available. There may exist an instance where there is no such technology in the country and patients are forced to fly out of the country. The effect of this is that long queues are experienced in hospitals having the technology. An example is getting to a hospital and you are told that a single machine is booked for two weeks. As the patients wait for such a duration of time while ill, they will feel that it is taking a long time. According to Crane, & Crane (2008), another issue related to technology is the errors caused by drug dispensing machines. These machines rely on prescriptions from the pharmacy. Errors occur when processing the data input and wrong prescription granted to patients. When there is occurrence of an error, proper monitoring and correction should be carried out to limit repetition (Anacleto, et al. 2005). It is evident that not only does a lack of technology bring discrepancy in medical practice but also its presence.
Not seeking advice is another factor that has contributed to increased cases of medical errors in the United States (Shanafelt et al. 2010). Health care is an area that requires individuals to work as a team so that they can realize their goals and objectives. Seeking advice is one of the ways that these individuals could work as a team. This factor is essential in the sense that a junior medical officer can seek help from senior medical officers or colleagues when undertaking a procedure or an activity that he or she does not have any experience (Shanafelt et al. 2010). Seeking advice will help these junior practitioners to learn how certain activities are carried out. Not only do the junior medical practitioners have to seek advice but also other health officers in the event they are performing an activity they are not sure. However, there are some cases when some of the health care officials fail to seek advice in the areas they do not know or they have doubts. As a result, these professionals will end up providing treatment that is not appropriate to patients. Therefore, the conditions that these patients are suffering from might not be solved, or other implications of using inappropriate treatment techniques may arise.
Long hour shifts is another form of factor that has resulted in frequent medical errors in the US (Barger et al., 2006). As the working shifts of the doctors are extended in different working environments, its effects are felt by the patients. Some prefer to work for long hours to make ends meet while the management forces others. Working for long hours causes fatigue (Barger et al., 2006). The human body needs to rest to carry out the daily duties properly. Fatigue not only affects the physical body but also mentally drains the affected patients. Poor decision making is a reward of working for long hours (Barger et al., 2006). In the hospital, decisions made are critical in the sense that any slight error is considered significant. Hospital workers have different duties depending on the department where they are based. An example of a surgeon and a receptionist who has experienced long hours would give a clear image on the effect of working for long hours. A receptionist having fatigue would not process the data of arriving patients well causing delays and hence queues that are unnecessary. As for a surgeon, the level of precision required in a theatre is so demanding that no room for error is left. For example, if a surgeon sleeps off while carrying out a heart transplant, he or she is bound to commit numerous mistakes.
Another issue that has depicted the existence of medical failures in the United States is the when complex cases arise (Kumar, & Steinebach 2008). Complex cases are those that do not respond to medical treatment immediately, and their diagnosis is the same as other common cases. When a doctor receives a patient with a complex case, he or she does tests to ascertain the medical fault the patient has. When tests results come out, the doctor finds a series of diseases with the same medical symptoms. When this happens, narrowing down to a single disease is a problem since there is a resemblance. Another complex case is when a disease rare disease is diagnosed. This rare disease can be one which was eradicated through vaccination some years ago or one that reoccurs after a long period. In such a case, the doctor’s conclusion will rely on a trial and error basis since the diagnosis is made on the assumption. Patients would hence suffer due to improper diagnosis (Makary, & Daniel 2016). The doctor might be having a generous and having a helping heart, but circumstances made him, or her give the prescription. As a result, patients pay the price. Treatment of a disease that was even not there in the first place may lead to the occurrence of other complications. Hence, this issue is an error in the medical sector.
Concluding, there have been a lot of errors which have been experienced in the medical sectors, and they have had certain effects in the provision of medical services. Several medical facilities in the US have developed various strategies to ensure that medical care is provided appropriately. As much as these measures have been given a lot of attention, there are certain factors which have led to constant medical errors. Some of the issues that have contributed to medical errors in the US include lack of experience, complex cases, seeking advice and lack of supervision. The issue of technology has also contributed to the rise of medical errors in the US. As much as the US is one of the developing countries in the world, some medical facilities have failed to incorporate new technology to help in the delivery of health care services. These health care centers will not deliver appropriate services resulting in medical errors. The technological system used in health care centers such as the drug dispensing systems. There are certain instances when these drug dispensing machines become faulty, and they may provide wrong prescriptions to the patients. Other issues that were found to be the leading causes of medical errors in the US were negative emotions, long working hours. These medical errors have resulted in adverse effects whereby the patients are the most affected. These patients are affected when the condition they are suffering from is not treated appropriately. In some cases, these medical errors have resulted in side effects which have led to complication among different patients.
References
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Barger, L. K., Ayas, N. T., Cade, B. E., Cronin, J. W., Rosner, B., Speizer, F. E., & Czeisler, C. A. (2006). Impact of extended-duration shifts, adverse events, and attentional failures. PLoS medicine, 3(12), e487. Retrieved from: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0030487
Kumar, S., & Steinebach, M. (2008). Eliminating US hospital medical errors. International Journal of Health Care, 21(5), 444-471. Retrieved from: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/09526860810890431
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Shanafelt, T. D., Balch, C. M., Bechamps, G., Russell, T., Dyrbye, L., Satele, D., & Freischlag, J. (2010). Burnout and medical errors among American surgeons. Annals of surgery, 251(6), 995-1000. Retrieved from: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192908?fb_source=message
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