Action to Improve Patient Safety - Essay Example

According to Brennan, Leape & Laird in 1991 and cited by the World Health Organization (2004), a Harvard study reported that 4% of patients encountered some kind of harm in the hospital while about 70% of cases of adverse events led to short-lived disability among patients and 14% of such incidents resulted from lead to death The Institute of Medicine or IOM added that annually, "medical errors" reached about 44 000 and 98 000 in hospitals of the USA. Ehsani, Jackson, and Duckett (2006) reported that in Australia alone, estimated direct costs related to managing adverse patient cases reach up to more than $2 billion per annum.

These concerns are very significant because globally, safety and better health of individuals are the basic inherent rights that healthcare institutions must effectively deliver to them. organization (Estes Park Institute, 2008), inappropriate conduct can never be tolerated and continuously being improved. Hindle, Braithwaite, and Ledema (2005) emphasized that fatigue, carelessness or lack of knowledge are common factors that resulted in care providers to create errors. Although the majority of errors are less likely due to behavior but are widely the consequence of underlying factors that are considered as barriers to effective teamwork.

Bender (2000) argues also those poor communications among many patients, health caregivers and hospital management lead to errors. Gui, Shiew, Bidlake, Cheruvu, Subak-Sharpe, and Fiennes (1999) added that ineffective communication between general practitioners and hospital in some cases often lead to patient safety problems. Finally, adequate reimbursement from insurance carriers is very essential in the healthcare industry as this helps manage client's health care expenses and prevent major financial burdens if and when, illness or injury occurs.

But, millions of citizens' medical coverage is not enough or have no health insurance. Some have lost their insurance coverage or just let it lapse the moment they leave their jobs; while others have very limited knowledge that if they can't afford the cost of private insurance, they may avail of certain financial assistance from government programs. These are some of the issues confronted by many individuals and require further attention.