Panel charged with preventing errors
Even the most trusting patient has heard enough about medical mistakes in the past few years to be leery upon entering a hospital. For most patients, most of the time, health care does what it is designed to do – make an ill patient well. However mistakes do occur. How frequently they occur in Pennsylvania and of what nature is more or less a guess right now. But by the end of September all licensed hospitals, birthing centers and ambulatory surgical centers will be required to report both mistakes and near misses to the newly-created Patient Safety Authority. The authority, in turn, is charged with turning that data not only into something useful for health-care consumers but more important with finding ways to reduce or eliminate medical errors.
The authority was established last year and includes four physicians, two attorneys, three nurses a pharmacist and a non-healthcare worker. The knowledge and experience is on board to weigh information coming in and determine if there are better, safer ways to provide health care.
With a fast-acting authority, a problem that surfaces in one hospital such as faulty sanitizing of surgical equipment might be prevented quickly in other facilities using similar procedures if an alert is issued.
While reporting to the authority is mandatory, the authority holds little power. It does not regulate or license and cannot punish any hospital or doctor for making a mistake, even if it cost a patient’s life. It can though look at trends, identify problems, offer corrective action and make referrals to licensure boards.
The authority also must generate an annual report so that the public is aware of its findings and suggestions.
If the Patient Safety Authority works as designed, medical errors won’t just be counted and categorized, they will be corrected and prevented.