Emergency Medical Errors

November 10, 2005

Zachary Meisel , an assistant professor of emergency medicine and former director of a suburban ambulance service, weighs in at Slate.com on emergency medicine and medical errors.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published its report To Err Is Human, which estimated that up to 98,000 patients may die each year because of the mistakes of doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers. But few published studies have tried to quantify or even characterize the injuries to patients that take place before they reach the hospital. How frequent and how serious are the mistakes that take place in ambulances—and are there simple changes that could help prevent them?

. . .

Most EMTs and paramedics save lives daily and do far more good than harm. When mistakes happen, focusing the inquiry on their faults obscures the real question: What was wrong with the ambulance system that allowed a competent paramedic or EMT to commit a significant error?

Interesting questions. Meisel offers some simple suggestions that he believes will make a difference:
— standardize all the dosages and packaging of the drugs
— organize all ambulances the same way
— prefill and color code syringes

Of course there will always be resistance to change. But this is, as Meisel highlights, an area of medicine where small changes could make a big difference in the lives of patients.