A List of Medical Errors that Healthcare Practitioners Usually Make

By Your Health Magazine

Medical errors are mistakes or accidents in the healthcare industry that harm patients. They can range from diagnostic mistakes to miscommunication, and it is crucial to learn the causes as part of enhancing patient safety and risk management.

If you want to learn more about medical errors, it’s essential to explore how these mistakes occur and the measures that need to be taken to prevent them. By learning about the common types of errors, you can learn how to better advocate for yourself and contribute to a safer healthcare environment.

Medication Errors

One of the most common medical mistakes involves medication. These mistakes include prescribing the wrong medication, using the wrong dosage, and administering the drug to the wrong patient.

For instance, a physician might inadvertently prescribe a medication that will interact adversely with another drug the patient is taking. In the same way, nurses might misread the dosage instructions and cause an overdose or underdose.

Diagnostic Errors

Diagnostic errors involve the failure of a healthcare professional to identify a patient’s condition correctly, delay the diagnosis, or give a completely wrong diagnosis. This can lead to improper treatment or a lack of treatment altogether.

For example, symptoms of severe conditions, such as heart attacks or strokes, may be attributed to minor ones, thus delaying lifesaving treatment.

Surgical Errors

Mistakes in the operating room have disastrous results. Common surgical errors include surgeries on the wrong part of the body, surgical instruments being left inside a patient, or incorrect anesthesia being administered. These are referred to as “never events,” which are completely preventable but often occur with unexpected regularity.

Research has indicated that errors occur in 1 in 112,000 surgeries, though even one mistake could result in devastating consequences.

Miscommunication

Poor communication among healthcare members is a leading cause of medical errors.

For instance, a nurse might not fully relay a patient’s symptoms to a doctor, or a shift change could result in missing critical information. Miscommunication can lead to mistakes in treatment plans, missed diagnoses, or medication errors.

Tools like standardized handoff protocols are now being used to reduce these risks, but communication errors remain prevalent.

Errors in Medical Records and Documentation

Incorrect or incomplete documentation in a patient’s medical record can lead to serious problems. This might include recording the wrong test results, failing to note a drug allergy, or omitting details about a patient’s medical history. These errors can mislead healthcare providers and result in improper treatment.

Errors in Patient Discharge Instructions

When discharged from a healthcare facility, patients are often given instructions about medications, follow-up care, or lifestyle adjustments. Errors in these instructions—such as omitting critical details or providing unclear guidance—can lead to complications.

For example, if patients misunderstand medication guidelines, they might skip doses or take the wrong amount.

Errors in Lab Tests or Imaging

Mistakes in lab testing or imaging can also lead to misdiagnosis or delayed treatment. This includes performing the wrong test, misinterpreting test results, or losing test samples.

For example, a radiologist might overlook a small tumor on an imaging scan, delaying a cancer diagnosis.

Informed consent requires that patients fully understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a proposed treatment or procedure. If a healthcare provider skips this step or fails to explain critical details, patients may undergo procedures they wouldn’t have agreed to if they had been properly informed.