To prevent medical errors, information is key
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Wanda Pratt recalls encountering one hospital patient during her research at Seattle Children’s Hospital whose relationship with health care providers was so difficult that he refused to speak to them, and it was interfering with his care. “How can you treat somebody if you can’t talk to them and they’re not going to talk to you back?” she asked. When patients and physicians don’t communicate well, it can be a life-and-death matter. Medical errors rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for more than 250,000 deaths per year. Many of those er