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| Christopher Langan of Harvard medical School is lead author of the study |
We are about to see, as part of the Congressional debate, paeans to the American health care system and denunciation of our civil justice system - particularly medical malpractice litigation.
The president will demonstrate his moderation by intoning solemnly that he supports medical malpractice reform.
We will be told that fear of malpractice litigation causes billions to be wasted on unnecessary testing - defensive medicine. But if the tort system has such a powerful motivational effect, then why doesn't it motivate health care personnel to wash their hands?
The new Rand Institute study of 10 North Carolina hospitals, published HERE in the New England Journal of Medicine reaches these conclusions:
Our findings validate concern raised by patient-safety experts in the United States and Europe that harm resulting from medical care remains very common. Though disappointing, the absence of apparent improvement is not entirely surprising. Despite substantial resource allocation and efforts to draw attention to the patient-safety epidemic on the part of government agencies, health care regulators, and private organizations, 2-4 the penetration of evidence-based safety practices has been quite modest. For example, only 1.5% of hospitals in the United States have implemented a comprehensive system of electronic medical records, and only 9.1% have even basic electronic record keeping in place; only 17% have computerized provider order entry.Physicians-in-training and nurses alike routinely work hours in excess of those proven to be safe. Compliance with even simple interventions such as hand washing is poor in many centers.
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