Kolkata, Feb 23 (UNI) Patient safety in health care has become a serious global concern in recent years.
Although health systems differ from country to country, many threats to patient safety have similar
causes and often can be addressed by similar solutions.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a 1 in a million chance of a person being harmed while travelling by plane. In comparison, there is a 1 in 300 chance of a patient being harmed during health care. Industries with a perceived higher risk such as the aviation and nuclear industries have a much better safety record than health care.
It is estimated that there are 421 million hospitalizations in the world annually, and approximately 42.7 million adverse events occur in patients during these hospitalizations. Using conservative estimates, the latest data shows that patient harm is the 14th leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the world.
Estimates show that in high income countries (HIC) as many as 1 in 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care. The harm can be caused by a range of incidents or adverse events, with nearly 50 per cent of them being preventable.
In a study on frequency and preventability of adverse events across 26 low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the rate of adverse events was around 8 per cent, of which 83 per cent could have been prevented and 30 per cent led to death. Approximately two-thirds of all adverse events occur in LMICs.
Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm in health care systems across the world. Globally, the cost associated with medication errors has been estimated at US$ 42 billion annually, not counting lost wages, productivity, or health care costs. This amounts to almost 1 per cent of global expenditure on health.
Medication errors occur when weak medication systems and/or human factors such as fatigue of personnel, poor working conditions, workflow interruptions or staff shortages affect prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices, which can then result in severe harm, disability and even death.
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