Minnesota hospitals report increase in preventable errors

Minnesota hospitals saw an increase last year in errors such as fatal or disabling patient falls and surgeries on the wrong body parts, as well as a cluster of medication errors related to the use of epinephrine to treat allergic reactions, cardiac arrests and other conditions, according to a state report released Thursday.

While patients are safer overall as a result of Minnesota’s pioneering public accounting of hospital errors, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the increase suggests a need for “renewed focus.” The 341 reportable adverse events in the 12-month period ending Oct. 6 was an increase from the 336 events reported by Minnesota hospitals and surgery centers in 2016.

“We don’t find that good enough,” Malcolm said.

The number of reportable errors, dubbed “never events” because they are preventable, has increased for four years. The errors last year contributed to 12 deaths and 103 disabling injuries.

Hospitals reported 36 surgeries or procedures to the wrong body parts, the most since the state started reporting adverse events in 2004. Many involved spinal procedures on the wrong side of the back or at the wrong vertebrae.

Hospitals developed standard “timeout” procedures over the past decade — pauses that doctors use to ensure they have the right patients, procedures and body parts before making incisions — to avoid scenarios such as the removal of the wrong kidney that occurred at Methodist Hospital in 2008.

Source: startribune