Staff mistakes hit 400 patients a day
Nearly 900 medical accidents a day in hospitals with 400 of them being down to human failings
HOSPITALS across France see 900 medical accidents a day; with about 400 of them being due to mistakes by staff.
The figures, revealed in a new report, show between 275,000 and 395,000 “undesirable serious events” a year which study leader Philippe Michel said “was not brilliant”.
Worryingly, the figures are very close to those from a previous study in 2004, showing there has been little change but Dr Michel noted that there had been improvement in the areas of anaesthetic reanimation and hospital acquired infections.
The Enquête Nationale sur les Evénements Indésirables liés aux Soins (Eneis) study, which looked at a sample of 31 departments, 81 hospitals and clinics and 8,269 patients found that over the seven-day period there were 374 "événements indésirables graves” (EIG) of which 177 were avoidable mistakes.
Avoidable accidents – there were between 160,000 and 290,000 a year – were those where the event would not have happened if the medical care had been up to standard.
The experts said many the mistakes arose out of human failings of medical professionals and lack of supervision, plus a lack of communication.
In addition, 20 per cent of the accidents in hospital were associated with medicines being given.
