Prevention and Management of Medical Errors

According to the CDC, in 2015, 633,842 people died of heart disease, 595,930 died of cancer, and 155,041 died of chronic respiratory disease—the top three causes of death in the U.S.  However, according to Dr. Martin Makary, MD, M.P.H a professor at John Hopkins and a recent study he conducted may prove the CDC wrong putting medical errors as the cause of death behind cancer but ahead of respiratory disease.

Dr. Martin goes on to state that;  “Incidence rates for deaths directly attributable to medical care gone awry haven’t been recognized in any standardized method for collecting national statistics,” says Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H., professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an authority on health reform. “The medical coding system was designed to maximize billing for physician services, not to collect national health statistics, as it is currently being used.”

Dr. Martin is not suggesting that these medical errors are due to "bad doctors" or nurses but maybe systematic errors or errors in the method of data collection.

"Medical error has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome, the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution), the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning), or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient. Patient harm from medical error can occur at the individual or system level"