Medical Errors

Nurses have less pharmacology education than physicians or pharmacists, but are sometimes held to account for errors that weren't picked up by either of these participants.

I think that when an error arises from a situation like this, the accountability should be shared.

In passing, I would also like to see occasional recognition of the many times we catch potentially fatal prescribing errors - my awareness has been heightened by the recent thread on nursing representation ion the media (https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99827)!

If the doctor writes it, the nurse will usually catch the error. If the nurse gives it anyway, then she/he is just as liable for the error.

How many of you ever read the book "Internal Bleeding"? It is a great book written by a couple Drs, who now run the Safety Program at UCLA Med Center. It was about the System as a whole, and what can be done to fix it. In the beginning, they give examples of errors that have occurred, and who got blamed, etc. They go on, to present ways to fix the system, from computerized ordering, to a reporting system that doesn't toss out good people who made an error. I think all nurses,Drs, and Health care administrators should read it. In fact, on of our neurologists borrowed it from me, and was so impressed, that he wrote to the authors. Don't know if he heard back from them yet.

How many of you ever read the book "Internal Bleeding"? It is a great book written by a couple Drs, who now run the Safety Program at UCLA Med Center. It was about the System as a whole, and what can be done to fix it. In the beginning, they give examples of errors that have occurred, and who got blamed, etc. They go on, to present ways to fix the system, from computerized ordering, to a reporting system that doesn't toss out good people who made an error. I think all nurses,Drs, and Health care administrators should read it. In fact, on of our neurologists borrowed it from me, and was so impressed, that he wrote to the authors. Don't know if he heard back from them yet.

I read "Internal Bleeding" I thought it was an excellent account of how errors were committed and ways to fix the errors.