New measurement tool may (not) improve patient safety (concl .

We're continuing our treatment of a new tool to standard medical errors in hospitals. The Global Trigger Tool provides a more thorough reassessment of hospital records, unveiling in one study 90 percent more errors than traditional survey methods. These measurement tools allow the ground for hospital quality ratings and programs sponsored by organizations like Oregon's Patient Safety Commission.

The researchers say they developed the Global Trigger Tool in an attempt to be more in sync with the times. The measurement tools recommended by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), for example, were developed for the old hospital care model. Patients no longer stay overnight for routine surgeries; rather, they're taken charge of in outpatient centers. As a result, only very ill people with complex or more serious medical issues are taking up hospital beds. These more complicated cases present more opportunities for errors in medication or procedures. Any character data gathered would be skewed.

The survey results bear this out to some degree. The most common errors were medication errors, surgical and nonsurgical procedure errors and common infections.

Health professionals who are less enthusiastic about the Global Trigger Tool admit that these are, indeed, common errors. They also say that these errors are the least severe. Perhaps the tool finds more information but provides less useful information.

The degree of a patient safety plan is to better health outcomes for patients. The Global Trigger Tool may place a vast list of errors, but it doesn't rank them in price of patient consequences.

All safety advocates hold that the best reporting method would be direct, real-time observation. Voluntary reporting can surely leading to under-reporting - that's why government and private safety organizations audit hospital records. This new tool may leave too much data, while more traditional tools are capable to order results.

The Oregon Patient Safety Commission is running to see that the state's health care system is the safest in the nation. The Global Trigger Tool adds another tool to the orchestra.

Source: U.S. News & World Report, "Report: Hospital Errors May Be Far More Common Than Suspected," Steven Reinberg, 04/07/11