Monday 28 July 2014

An Online Prevention Of Medical Errors Course

By Imelda Reid


When a report was published in the 1990s by the Institute of Medicine in the United States, it became obvious just how many patients were dying as a result of ignorance regarding proper safety precautions. It was shocking to discover that more patients were dying from a failure in this regard than from motor vehicle accidents or cancer. As a result of this report, there has been a focus on patient safety by the medical profession. Practitioners are able to continue their education online by taking a prevention of medical errors course.

An online search reveals that many providers are offering such courses. Many of these can even be taken online. When selecting a particular provider, it is important to find one that is recognized by the necessary medical authorities. The content of such courses is important and a recognized provider will offer the right content.

The individual taking such a course will be taught how to identify problem situations, determine factors that increase risks as well as learn strategies to decrease these risks. Other elements included in such courses are identification of vulnerable populations and root causes of error are analyzed. The reporting requirements may also be covered.

There are certain events that have been identified that should never happen. Some such events are leaving foreign objects in a patient after surgery, blood incompatibilities, air embolisms and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. One of the most common mistakes that can occur is surgery on the wrong patient or the wrong surgery on a patient. Courses should also cover the five most misdiagnosed conditions. These are cardiac related issues; cancer related issues, neurological related issues; timely response to surgery complications and urological related post-operative issues.

Two hours is often all that is required to complete online courses of this nature. The convenience and flexibility of completing courses in this manner is one of the biggest benefits. It is not difficult to register and complete a course like this when one has a little free time at home. This takes away any obstacles standing in the way of furthering education in this area.

This flexibility is one of the best aspects of being able to do such courses online, especially for medical practitioners who are often very busy people. There are courses that are specially designed for different practitioners. One designed for a nurse will be different than one designed for a doctor.

In the United States there is an electronic tracking system. A provider of continued education should report credits to the official tracking systems used to determine compliance. Certain states such as Florida require practitioners to complete a two hour course in order to receive their license or renew it. If the continuing education records of a practitioner are complete, they are able to renew their license without interruption.

Every practitioner, no matter how experienced, can benefit from the material provided. There are still far too many patients dying unnecessarily due to human error. Every practitioner has a responsibility to make sure that a patient does not die due to an unnecessary error. Courses like this help to promote patient safety and hopefully with enough practitioners focusing on this, the statistics of unnecessary patient death will improve over time.




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