Don’t blame your doctor GP if he made a mistake in your prescription or if he skipped your consultation : he is not really guilty. Whose fault then? A study published in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH), which looked at medical errors in town, provides an answer that clears the medical profession. Medical errors often result from a lack of organization of the practice and not from a problem of competence or knowledge.
But what do we mean by medical error? They are referred to in the report as “care-associated adverse events (ADEs)”. The more precise definition qualifies an “event or circumstance associated with the care which could have caused or has resulted in harm to a patient, and which one wishes not to recur”.
4 out of 10 medical errors due to poor organization
The survey recorded AEIs based on 133 GP surgeries from 19 French regions during a week of activity. The results show that for 13,438 medical acts, 475 AEIs were listed, including 344 “avoidable” adverse events.
In question: first of all a “problem of organization of the practice” (42% of cases) such as an error in the patient’s medical file, difficulties in managing appointments or even in identifying a patient.
Then, the report points to coordination and communication errors between doctors when several structures or caregivers intervene for the same patient.
Finally, the last source of medical error refers in 20% of cases to “lack of knowledge” or “skills” of general practitioners or an absence of “mobilization” of their knowledge.
Rest assured, most medical errors are of no clinical consequence for the patient.
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