The Director General of the World Health Organization Dr. Margaret Chan has said mistakes relative to health care services affect one out of ten patients worldwide. She stressed the importance of acquiring the knowledge of how to protect the patient against any harms during health care provision.
Commenting on the issue, Dr. William Donadson, President of the International Alliance for Patients' Safety, Head Medical Staff in England, said implementation of the clear and brief procedures provided for in the regulations governing medical mistakes have proved to be efficient in controlling the effects resulting from medical mistakes, in spite of the widespread prevalence of medical mistakes in the different parts of the world. He said most prestigious hospitals, in their efforts to avoid medical mistakes, have failed to reduce medical mistakes to levels below the international level in spite of the severe measures taken.
He said there are many solutions for reducing the outcome of medical mistakes, including taking care in dealing with drugs which are similar in name or structure, determining the identities of patients, providing all information relative to patients upon their transfer, applying the right surgical procedure in the right place, monitoring concentrations of electrolytes, ensuring right drugs are offered at the different stages of health care provision, avoiding confusion in dealing with catheters and tubes, using disposable injections, and using clean hands for avoiding infections relative to health care provision.