More Hospitals Agree to Take Key Steps When "Never Events" Occur

More hospitals than before have agreed to take key steps when a “never event” occurs during the course of care in their facilities.  Never events – serious reportable adverse events that should never happen during course of care – include surgery on the wrong body part, certain surgical site infections, and leaving a foreign object inside a patient’s body during surgery. 

 

These findings come from the 2008 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which just announced that 63% of hospitals participating the Survey have agreed to:

• Apologize to the patient or family affected by the never event;

• Report the event to at least one of the following agencies: the Joint Commission, a state reporting program for medical errors, or a Patient Safety Organization;

• Perform a root cause analysis consistent with the instructions from the chosen reporting agency; and,

• Waive all costs directly related to the serious reportable adverse event.

This is an increase over last year, when 52% agreed to the policy.

 

For a recent interview we did with Leapfrog Group CEO Leah Binder, go here.