In the U.S., medical errors are estimated to result in 44,000 to 98,000 unnecessary deaths, in hospital settings, and 1,000,000 excess injuries each year.[4][5] Medical care is frequently compared adversely to aviation: while many of the factors which lead to errors in both fields are similar, aviation's error management protocols are regarded as much more effective.[6] [edit] Risk factors
See also Healthcare error proliferation model Medical errors are associated with inexperienced physicians and nurses, new procedures, extremes of age, complex care and urgent care.[7] Poor communication (whether in one's own language or, as may be the case for medical tourists, another language), improper documentation, illegible handwriting, inadequate nurse-to-patient ratios, and similarly named medications are also known to contribute to the problem. Patient actions may also contribute significantly to medical errors. Falls, for example, are often due to patients' own misjudgements. Sleep deprivation has also been cited as a contributing factor in medical errors. One study found that being awake for over 24 hours caused medical interns to double or triple the number of preventable medical errors, including those which resulted in injury or death.[8] The risk of car crash after these shifts increased by 168%, and the risk of near miss by 460%.[9] Interns admitted falling asleep during lectures, during rounds, and even during surgeries.[9]
In 2000, The Institute of Medicine released "To Err Is Human", which asserts that the problem in medical errors is not bad people in health care—it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer.[10] [edit] Misdiagnosis of psychological disorders
Medical errors occur in the treatment of mental illness.
Sufferers of dissociative identity disorder usually have psychiatric histories that contain three or more separate mental disorders and previous treatment failures.[11] The disbelief of some doctors around the validity of dissociative identity disorder may also add to its misdiagnosis.[11]
Studies have found that bipolar disorder has often been misdiagnosed as major depression. Its early diagnosis necessitates that clinicians pay attention to the features of the patient's depression and also look for present or prior hypomanic or manic symptomatology.[12]
The misdiagnosis of schizophrenia is also a common problem. There may be long delays of patients getting a correct diagnosis of this disorder.
أضحك مع الناس واخفي همً قتلني
همٍ بوسط العين باين ومفضوح
اخفي دموعي باابتسامه وكني
سعيد بدنـيتـي بضحكـ
ومزوحا