Reducing Medical Errors in Hospitals

Up to 440,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of preventable harm, including medical errors and hospital-acquired infections. Some estimates put medical errors as the third most common cause of death. Certain populations, such as older adults or people with limited English proficiency, tend to have worse outcomes in hospitals, making hospital errors an important health equity issue.

One common cause of medical errors is miscommunication among providers.

“One of the things that we see in the data, and that I also saw in my own clinical experience, is how fragmented communication can get…not having all members of the health care team on the same page can be confusing for patients and families,” said Erin AbuRish Blakeney, a Research Assistant Professor at the UW School of Nursing. Blakeney reported that on a more serious level, miscommunication can lead to errors and harms.

Blakeney is studying a model that aims to help patient teams communicate better, called Structured Interprofessional Bedside Rounds, or SIBR. She presented on SIBR in October 2021 at the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s fourth annual Ignite Aging Symposium.
Typically, in a hospital there are multiple health care professionals working together on a patient’s case, such as a physician, nurse, pharmacist and social worker. However, often this team won’t have direct contact with each other, making it easier for miscommunications to happen.

The goal of SIBR is to bring that patient team together every day to talk about the case with the patient. While SIBR is not a new model, it has recently been gaining popularity in hospitals and research. Studies show that SIBR may help improve patient outcomes, especially for people with multiple medical conditions, those with Medicaid or with no insurance, and those with limited English proficiency.

“If you have a good sense of what’s happening with a patient… you’re more likely to see when something seems wrong or out of place so you can respond to it,” Blakeney said.

Not only can SIBR improve patient outcomes, but it can also make the experience better for both patients and health care professionals.
“I think it reduces the level of anxiety among people on the care team, as well as among patients and families because they have a better sense of what’s going on,” Blakeney said. However, much of that work is out of the hands of patients.

Blakeney has a few pieces of advice for patients and families to help communication go as smoothly as possible. The first is they should feel comfortable asking questions. Healthy Aging “They have a right to understand what is happening and to have their goals be understood by the team and incorporated into their care plan.”

Another thing Blakeney suggests is to find a friend or family member who can help advocate for the patient, ask questions and keep track of information, since it can be hard to do those things while sick.

“I find it helpful to have a little notepad or to create a note in my phone where I can jot things down,” Blakeney said. “Oftentimes, they have whiteboards in the patient’s room, and family members or the patient can add questions and then point the healthcare team to it when they come around.”

While patients can try to be proactive about asking questions, ultimately, it’s the responsibility of health care teams to improve communication and reduce errors. SIBR highlights how health care teams can adjust their processes to improve outcomes and reduce stress for both patients and the healthcare team.

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