The 1999 IOM report, entitled To Err Is Human, estimated that up to 98,000 patients died annually from preventable medical errors.
"As physicians taking care of patients, there was this concept of our own infallibility, and that's a dumb way of organizing things when there are a thousand moving pieces, when there are all these patients to take care of, I have people all around me and my beeper's going off every two minutes," Wachter said.
dennis.obrien@baltsun.com
Safety checklist
Here's the five-item safety checklist that medical personnel in Michigan intensive-care units employed to reduce infections and save patients' lives:
Rigorously wash hands with a sanitizing chlorhexidine soap
Wear sterile masks, gowns and gloves
Avoid inserting catheters in the groin area
Thoroughly clean and use barrier protections in areas around catheters
Remove catheters as soon as possible
[ Dr. Peter Pronovost, New England Journal of Medicine, 2006]
