Excellent report tonite on CBS News tonite about Dr. Donald Berwick and his work with the National Institute for Healthcare Improvement. They talked about hospital infections and prescription mistakes. Dr. Berwick’s passion for his work is so clear.
Thanks to them both for putting this information out to the public in a much more massive way than we usually see. Until we are, as a nation, ready to recognize that the numbers of errors made in healthcare are so huge (and they are), improvement won’t be a priority. Dr. Berwick states in his interview that, “Among healthcare workers in this country, there is an acceptance that certain numbers of mistakes are just going to happen.”
For those of us who have watched loved ones suffer — or even for those of us who have suffered at their hands ourselves — “a certain number” is just unacceptable.
You can see some background to the report here: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2440764n&channel=eveningnews