Medical errors - prevention; Patient safety - hospital errors
A hospital error is when there is a mistake in your medical care. Errors can be made in your:
Hospital errors are a leading cause of death. Doctors, nurses, and all hospital personnel are working to make hospital care safer.
Learn what you can do to help prevent medical errors when you are in the hospital.
Do all you can to help you and your health care providers stay on top of your care:
Go to a hospital you trust.
Make sure that you and your surgeon know exactly where or on which side you are getting your operation. Have the surgeon mark on your body where they will operate.
Remind family, friends, and providers to wash their hands:
Tell your provider about:
Know about the medicine you will get in the hospital. Speak up if you think you are getting the wrong medicine or getting a medicine at the wrong time. Know or ask:
All medicines should have a label with the name of the medicine on it. All syringes, tubes, bags, and pill bottles should have a label. If you do not see a label, ask your nurse what the medicine is.
Ask your nurse if you are taking any high-alert medicine. These medicines can cause harm if they are not given the right way at the right time. A few high-alert medicines are blood thinners, insulin, and narcotic pain medicines. Ask what extra safety steps are being taken.
Contact your provider if you have concerns about hospital errors.
The Joint Commission website. Hospital: 2022 National Patient Safety Goals. www.jointcommission.org/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/hospital-national-patient-safety-goals/. Updated January 1, 2022. Accessed October 14, 2022.
Wachter RM. Quality, safety, and value. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 10.
BACK TO TOPReview Date: 7/21/2022
Reviewed By: Frank D. Brodkey, MD, FCCM, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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06/01/2025
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