Improve Patient Safety

According to a 2005 World Health Organization Report on Patient Safety, they revealed that 4% of patients suffer some kind of harm in hospital; 70% of the adverse events result in short-lived disability, and 14% of the incidents lead to death. A report from The Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that "medical errors" cause between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually in hospitals in the USA. The UK Department of Health, in its 2000 report, estimated that adverse events occur in approx. 10% of hospital admissions or about 850,000 adverse events a year.

Adverse events exact a high toll in financial loss as well. In the UK consequent additional hospital stays alone cost about £2000 million a year, and paid litigation claims cost the National Health Service around £400 million annually, in addition to an estimated potential liability of £2400 million for existing and expected claims. The total national cost of preventable adverse medical events in the USA, including lost income, disability and medical expenses, is estimated at between US$17,000 million and US$29,000 million annually. Added to these costs is the erosion of trust, confidence and satisfaction among the public and health-care providers.

Preventing Errors

Effective error-proofing is able to detect and prevent errors reliably and consistently without being affected by emotion or distractions. It does not normally replace the need for human intervention, but it does assist in bringing the concern/problem to the attention of the staff before the problem can interfere with the next step in the process.