NEWS BRIEFS
NEWS BRIEFS
Medical errors likely to go unreported
Registered nurses responding to a survey said fewer patients are harmed by medical errors than 10 years ago. Hospital-based RNs were surveyed by RN Magazine, published by Medical Economics in Montvale, NJ. Two of three respondents said they were unaware of patients harmed because of incompetence or errors by physicians or nurses in the month before the survey. Only 59% could say the same in 1988.
The findings also indicate fewer nurses are reporting errors. In fact, 26% of respondents said they knew of at least one instance in which a patient was harmed because of physician incompetence or error and did not report such incident to their supervisor — up from 22% in 1988.
"There are many possible explanations for why more nurses today are not reporting medical errors," says Marianne D. Mattera, editor of RN. "Fear of being disciplined or fired and lack of institutional support are just two of the reasons why nurses keep quiet."
Additionally, existing laws provide relatively little protection for nurses who fear reprisal. Only Kentucky, Minnesota, and New Jersey have laws protecting nurses from retaliation by employers for reporting care that endangers patients.
Include diverse views in end-of-life policies
Just over half of survey respondents ages 60 to 90 said they would choose to live even if they developed a serious or incurable health condition. The end-of-life decision-making survey of 137 women and 63 men asked what decisions they would make if faced any of 17 incurable or terminal conditions. Researcher Victor G. Cicirelli, MD, affiliated with Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, presented the findings at the Gerontological Society of America conference in Philadelphia last November.
Respondents, consisting largely of blue-collar backgrounds and strong religious beliefs, were given seven choices: trying to maintain life, refusing treatment, withdrawing treatment, letting someone close to them decide, suicide, assisted suicide, or letting the physician decide to end life.
While 51% favored trying to live regardless of the situation, 40% said they wanted others to make end-of-life decisions for them. Only about 10% indicated a willingness to end their lives if little quality of life was the prognosis, noted Cicirelli. Public policy about end-of-life care should allow for differing viewpoints among the elderly, he added.
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