Are errors along the medical “assembly line” costing you
your health?
It’s not just the colossal, headline-making screw-ups – you
know, like doing an organ transplant without checking to see
if the organs match the patient’s blood type.
Many times, medical errors hit a lot closer to home – your
local doctor’s office.
A recent study published in the journal Quality and Safety
in Health Care examines errors that take place in
the “primary care” setting. That’s a fancy way of saying “at
the doctor’s office” as opposed to the ER or hospital. Since
Americans visit their doctors’ offices more than 20 times as
often as they go to the hospital, this study’s finding
warrants some attention.
The research tracked and classified 344 errors committed in
42 clinics over just a four and a half month period (seems
like a lot, doesn’t it?). Of these mistakes, only (I
use this word comparatively – even one error of this type is
too many) about 13% were caused by shortcomings in the
physician’s knowledge or skill level
But a truly astonishing 82% were caused by “system
malfunctions” like office administrative mistakes and
communication lapses, among other things.
Some of these mistakes carried some pretty severe
consequences – including one patient’s death that was linked
to a poorly relayed message. And this is just in a handful
of clinics over only four and a half months! Imagine how
frequently this kind of thing happens nationwide over the
course of an average year. Remember, too, that the errors
that make up this study are only those that were detected or
admitted to. I wonder how many other blunders skated
by “under the radar.”
There’s no easy solution to this problem. One possible way
might be to reduce the size of medical practices’
administrative staff in order to limit the number of people
who have the opportunity to mishandle an individual’s
records. After all, these “assembly line” medical mistakes
may echo the industrial model that’s been proven accurate
time and again on factory floors everywhere: When you double
the number of people involved in any process, you increase
the chance of errors within that process FOUR-FOLD.
Unless you have the good luck to have a “family doctor” who
has a small, intimate practice (and a good doc is hard to
find), you’re just going to have to track your own care. Ask
for your test results, call until you get them, and then be
sure to ask what they mean. And don’t stop asking questions
until you get answers that make sense.
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Don’t burst a pipe (or an artery) – blow off some steam
instead!
In this day and age, expressing anger is frowned upon in
most circles. Being a hothead just isn’t cool. Especially if
you’re an American man, you’ve got to keep your temper in
check or run the risk of being considered “verbally
abusive.”
There’s always an exception, of course: If you’re the coach
of a pro sports team, you can blow your stack whenever you
want. The fans are paying good money to see you do it.
But the main reason I mention anger is because of a recent
study published in the journal, Psychosomatic Medicine. It
seems that the moderate expression of anger reduced the risk
of stroke and non-fatal heart attack in men by up to 50%!
That’s right: As I’ve long suspected, for men, blowing off a
little steam now and then – in controlled and productive
ways, of course – carries with it some real, tangible
health benefits. Put another way, the suppression of emotion
(especially anger) can be a risky proposition for a man’s
health.
You men out there: This isn’t to say you should lash out at
anyone and everyone, but expressing your anger verbally (AND
MODERATELY) can protect your health.
Blowing off steam, never hot air,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
