tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6125857314165645951.post4968320878658380915..comments2024-02-10T00:21:20.822-08:00Comments on The Gigamole Diaries: Hospital errors - more action neededgigamolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18328852130774608540noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6125857314165645951.post-27773663161313291712009-12-15T14:40:45.453-08:002009-12-15T14:40:45.453-08:00Fair 'nuff. But sadly I think such audits are ...Fair 'nuff. But sadly I think such audits are the exception rather than the rule for hospitals/speciality departments. I would like to think that there are much more audits than reported in academic journals, but somehow, I don't think so.<br /><br />I also found it curious that the paper report data from early 2005. Somewhat dated, don't you think? Especially since the response of attaching a specialist happened in 2007. One, of course assumes this was actually in response to the audit, but if the study was done in 2009, that would not have been the case, would it? :). I wonder why they chose 2005, and why they didn't complete the audit for post 2007?gigamolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18328852130774608540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6125857314165645951.post-21784271677396391792009-12-15T06:17:08.077-08:002009-12-15T06:17:08.077-08:00Actually I think that there has been quite a lot o...Actually I think that there has been quite a lot of progress in trying to understand some of the root causes for errors. <br /><br />Take for example, the article in this month's SMJ. There are the striking results of an audit of unscheduled readmissions from EMD. Patients seen by "Fellows", locums, MOs and MOs on Temporary Registration had three to four times the chance of reappearing in the ED compared with those seen by advanced trainees or consultants. This was mainly because of inadequate hydration but also because of missed diagnoses including intestinal obstruction and septic shock. The authors recognised this problem and introduced a specialist on every shift to try to reduce the incidence of this. Hopefully it worked. See http://smj.sma.org.sg/5011/5011a4.pdf for the whole articlePaul Ananthnoreply@blogger.com