Medical mistakes are a common occurrence in the health care industry. In fact, medical mistakes alone are the cause of hundreds of thousands of injuries and deaths every year. And although we have to provide some margin of error to health care facilities, the statistics are probably a bit higher than they should be. It’s actually been a common topic of discussion over the last few years – health care facilities and health insurance companies are trying to figure out how to lower the numbers of medical mistakes. And although it won’t be easy, progress is slowly being made.

The state of Ohio is one excellent example of “progress.” Every year in Ohio, medical mistakes cause 60,000 injuries, kill 7,500 patients, and add $450 million to the cost of health care. And the state has finally had enough. In an effort to lower these numbers, 24 Ohio hospitals (both general hospitals and children’s hospitals) have announced a collaboration to reduce hospital-acquired infections and medication errors. They have initiated the program known as Solutions for Patient Safety.

As part of the collaboration, the hospitals have agreed to share vital information with one another, including the number of patients who acquire certain infections and medication errors. They will then develop the best practices to prevent future mistakes. They will be learning from each other and learning from practices that don’t currently work. In fact, the hospitals have already begun to share data, and they plan to release a report with initial results in the fall of 2009.

The participating hospitals have a few specific goals they are trying to accomplish by June 2010:

• Reduce central line catheter-associated blood-borne infections by 50 percent

• Reduce MRSA infections

• Reduce surgical site infections in designated cardiac, neurosurgery and orthopedic procedures (Children’s Hospitals)

• Eliminate severe harm or death to any child from medication errors

• Eliminate any harm or injury to any child from preventable adverse drug events

The 24 participating Ohio hospitals are:

• Akron Children’s Hospital
• Berger Health System, Circleville
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• The Children’s Medical Center, Dayton
• Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital
• Doctors Hospital West, Columbus
• Dublin Methodist Hospital, Dublin
• Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster
• Grady Memorial Hospital, Delaware
• Grant Medical Center, Columbus
• Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, Columbus
• Licking Memorial Hospital, Newark
• Memorial Hospital of Union County, Marysville
• Mount Carmel East, Columbus
• Mount Carmel St. Ann’s, Westerville
• Mount Carmel West, Columbus
• Mount Carmel New Albany Hospital, New Albany
• Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus
• Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus
• Ohio State University Hospitals East, Columbus
• Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland
• Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus
• St. Vincent Mercy Children’s Hospital, Toledo
• Toledo Children’s Hospital

The program has been initially funded by a $1.5 million investment from the Cardinal Health Foundation. Reducing medical mistakes and medication errors has become an increasingly important topic in the health care field. Not only does it create unneccessary injuries and deaths every year, but it also causes the cost of health care to rise. Both health care facilities and health insurance companies are beginning to recognize the significance of these medical errors. Ohio is setting a great example; if hospitals across the country continue to work together and share vital information, our health care industry will certainly benefit.

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