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What Causes Emergency Room Errors?

June 23, 2019

Nobody likes to think about the possibility of a trip to the emergency room, but in the event that such a catastrophe occurs most of us would like to believe that we are in competent hands. However, in an alarming statistic from Science Daily, it was found that nearly 250,000 deaths are caused by emergency room errors across the United States every year. Some of those errors happen here, in Royal Oak, Michigan.

There has long been an academic inquiry into the higher instances of errors occurring in the emergency room. Probably the most common reason for emergency room errors is difficulties with information processing. The emergency room is a different ward with different problems as compared to inpatient wards. Often, there are many interruptions that happen in an emergency room, and many different medical professionals working on the same case. This can contribute to a much higher instance of information processing errors, and also difficulties in verifying vital medical information passed from one source to another.

Interestingly enough, patients who came into the emergency room complaining of abdominal distress were the most likely to encounter emergency room errors over the course of their treatment.

The good news is that it is relatively unlikely that an emergency room error is the result of Inadequate knowledge. Most doctors are very well trained, but even the best-trained doctor is likely to make mistakes if the information they have is not current or correct.

This post is intended to educate you on the frequency and cause of emergency room errors. It is not intended to be taken as legal advice.