April 24, 2018
The number of serious medical errors in the emergency services has decreased and, thanks to a new modus operandi implemented in six French hospitals, it could be reduced even further, thanks to consultation meetings between services.
Reduce the number of medical errors in the emergency room by communicating
The risk of medical error in the emergency room is reduced by 40% when systematic and regular cross-checks take place between doctors, as shown by a French study published in the Journal of the american medical association (JAMA): Internal medicine, this month of April.
“The goal is that all the sick can having more than one doctor interested in their case reduces the risk of errors», Explains Doctor Yonathan Freund, from the emergency department of La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, who led this study and wanted to create these exchanges of information. [sur les patients]. He regrets that the doctor is often alone with the sick, having no team to send him information.
Error rate reduced to 6.4% with verification meetings
The work was carried out in six emergency reception services in France, five of the Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP: Avicenne, Lariboisière, European Hospital Georges-Pompidou, Saint-Antoine and Tenon) and that of Grenoble University Hospital. A total of 1,680 patient records were reviewed.
The rate of medical errors was 6.4% (54 out of 840 cases) in the group of patients for whom these systematic and regular cross-check meetings took place., against 10.7% (90 out of 840 cases) when they did not take place.
Marie-Eve Wilson-Jamin
Read also: What are emergencies?
