Advances in technology have allowed us to do things once thought impossible. However, working smarter may lead to unforeseen errors thanks to malfunctioning technology or other related issues. How many errors occur that lead to adverse events, and how can medial professional hope to avoid these errors if they are coming from useful equipment?
In a new study, researchers performed a comparison of 28 studies regarding medical errors. Researchers found that medical errors affect up to 16 percent of patients admitted to hospitals. Close to 50 percent of these adverse events are attributable to surgical procedures. Similarly, operating room contents were found to be part of the reason: 70 percent of errors are related to equipment available in operating rooms, 44 percent are due to configuration and settings of equipment in the room, as well as how accessible it was, and 34 percent are related to direct malfunctioning of equipment during use.
