All the technology and medical advancements made in the past few decades have done little to solve the problem of medical errors. According to the Joint Commission, wrong-site surgeries occur up to 40 times each week in the U.S. A recent report from the federal government found medical mistakes contribute to the deaths of an estimated 15,000 Medicare patients each month. Statistics like these indicate hospital negligence is one of the top three causes of death in the United States, following heart disease and cancer.

Despite being aware of this significant problem, hospitals have either been unable or unwilling to take steps to improve patient safety. There are a variety of reasons for this including: hospitals' hierarchical nature, lack of transparency, resistance to change and reluctance to make patient safety a top priority.

Kaiser Health News reported that hospitals could dramatically improve patient safety by taking a few basic steps. These include: consistent use of checklists to ensure all medical providers follow proper procedures, encouraging more collaboration and teamwork between doctors and nurses, and stressing the importance of hand washing to all employees.

Hospitals who have adopted checklists have reported an impressive 47 percent decrease in deaths and 36 percent decline in major surgical complications. These checklists address even routine and mundane items, like washing one's hands, but it is these types of tasks that often get forgotten about when interruptions or distractions occur.

A collaborative environment allows nurses and others to question if a doctor may have overlooked something. Traditionally, the hierarchical structure at hospitals created an atmosphere where health care providers were uncomfortable questioning superiors. This needs to change for potential mistakes to be caught and prevented.

Some hospitals have begun to implement checklists and flatten hierarchies in the interests of patient safety. Hopefully the trend will continue and medical errors will finally begin to decrease.

Source: Kaiser Health News, Doctor, Did You Check Your Checklist?, Bara Vaida, 30 January 2012