Tag Archives: hospital mistakes

Fatal Hospital Mistakes

Fatal Hospital Mistakes

How to decrease the chances of You and Your Loved Ones Becoming Statistics.

In this insider report, we will show you how to lessen the chances of your hospital stay killing you.

You wouldn’t think people entrusted with your care would kill you, but it happens regularly. A Health Grades study recently showed that over a 3 year period 248,000 patient deaths were PREVENTABLE. I do find that reported number to be rather low.

A study of 3.3 million births in California found that babies born late at night were 16% more likely to die than those born during the daytime. Patients going into cardiac arrest at night were also more likely to die than those in the day. More medication errors happened at night. An analysis of 15 intensive care units showed that children admitted to them at night were more likely to die within 48 hours.

So what’s the problem with night admissions?

The main reason is lower quantity of staff, the ratio can sometimes double the patient load per nurse. The administrative staff –such as the head nurse or unit manager and the nurse who does patient education- on the unit typically does not provide direct care but they will help out during the day in an emergency such as cardiac arrest or patient fall.

The night shift is often 50% staffed with less seasoned people who are often reluctant [because of past gruff treatment] to awaken senior people with a problem.

It takes longer for someone to answer patient call lights at night because there are fewer staff available. During the day, the unit secretary can answer the call light via the intercom and redirect the nursing staff to higher priority situations first – such as new complaints of cheat pain or needing help to the toilet V needing the water pitcher refilled.

Another reason is fatigue. Have YOU ever tried working between 3am and 6am when most people are asleep? Not only that- 24-hour shifts and 80 hour work-weeks are not uncommon for residents and interns (student or junior doctors). A Harvard study showed interns on nightshift injured themselves twice as much as those on dayshift. With the nursing staff it is common for the evening crew to be required to work ‘a double’ shift to cover the floor if a night shift person calls in sick. In this case you may have been assigned to work an ‘eight’ hour shift originally which by the time you get all the massive paperwork done is actually 10 or 11 hours and then unexpectedly have to work another 8 to 10 hours.

Research has also shown that people who worked 24 hour shifts had the performance of someone who was legally drunk (blood alcohol 0.10 in most states).

Some pointers for a safer hospital stay:

  • Do some homework on hospitals in your area. Some have better fatality rates than others.
  • Avoid being overnight wherever possible.
  • It is better to be admitted during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
  • If possible get discharged from the hospital before 7 pm on Friday to avoid spending the weekend there when incident rates go up dramatically.
  • Make it your job to know EXACTLY the name and dosage of medications you should be taking (if any) during your stay. YOU are the final check that it is the correct medication.
  • Have a relative or friend stay by your bedside if possible 24/7. Have them maintain a log of your care
  • Get to know the staff on first name basis