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Reporting hospital errors is complex

Edward Volpintesta, M.D. Bethel

Publication: The Day

Published 03/06/2010 12:00 AM
Updated 03/06/2010 02:36 AM

The article "Hospitals oppose telling more about blunders," published March 2, demonstrates how complicated the question of hospital errors is and how mistaken it would be to simply publicize raw data on errors to the public.
There are many factors that influence hospitals' error rates, such as the social and economic conditions that exist in the communities they serve. Large hospitals that are referral centers and those operating in poor communities will have sicker patients than smaller ones or those in wealthy areas. Naturally, their patients will require more complex care, which carries a higher chance of error.
Clearly, the context in which errors occur makes it almost impossible to standardize error rates and apply them to all hospitals. Merely reporting raw error rates will unfairly jeopardize some hospitals and undermine public confidence.
Perhaps it would be better if hospitals periodically reported publicly what they were doing to increase safety for their patients.

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