One of the most alarming causes of death in the United States is medical mistakes. There have been over 250,000 preventable deaths per year in America, and according to the National Safety Council, medical errors caused one out of 10 patient deaths in America in 2011. It's important for healthcare professionals to thoroughly learn about medical errors so that they can do their best to avoid them, even if it means being on call 24/7. There are some common medical errors that healthcare professionals must know how to avoid, but you will learn 10 of them in this article.

Medical Mistakes and Their Causes:

Medical errors are not just mistakes made by doctors and nurses. They are also caused by the people who take care of patients, for instance, patients. There have been many cases where patients have caused medical errors through negligence or even when they don't understand what is wrong with them. For example, patients won't tell doctors what is wrong with them because they are afraid that the doctor will be upset at them or that they will do something to make it worse. Patients should not be afraid of their doctors and they should always inform their doctors of what is wrong with them. Another common cause of medical errors is poor communication between doctors and nurses. This communication breakdown can lead to misdiagnoses and other types of medical errors.

10 Common Medical Errors to be Avoided:

The following are the 10 common medical errors that healthcare professionals must try to avoid in their daily practice. The first step is, of course, to learn what these are and how they can be avoided.

1. Wrong Site Surgery/Procedures-

This type of medical error is when a surgery or procedure is performed on a part of the body that it was not supposed to be on. One common source of this error is when a doctor or nurse misplaces the patient's medical file. In this case, the patients who are supposed to have surgery will be scheduled for procedures that are supposed to be performed on a different part of their body. When this type of error occurs, the patient may have to undergo unnecessary surgery and even go through pain, suffering and even loss of life. This is one of the most common medical errors.

2. Wrong Code-

This type of medical error is the one where a patient is given the wrong diagnosis or treatment. This is usually caused when a doctor misinterpretes symptoms and misinterprets the patient's condition. In this case, the patient may undergo unnecessary procedures and procedures that are not associated with their condition.

3. Non-Adherence to Medications-

This type of medical error can happen because healthcare professionals don't give patients a complete list of things to take when they are being treated for an illness or disease. This can further cause complications. For example, patients are only provided with certain drugs and they have no knowledge of what else they should take to enhance the drug's effects. This medical error is also caused when a patient doesn't remember what they are supposed to take or what they have taken. The patient may even forget if they are supposed to get a shot or not, or when doctors make mistakes in writing medication prescriptions such as giving someone the wrong number of tablets.

4. Lack of Nurse Consultation-

This type of medical error happens when a nurse doesn't ask the patient what they need to take. This is a very common type of error. For example, a patient may undergo unnecessary procedures because the nurse doesn't consult them on what kind of interventions they require to be given. This can also happen if the patient is not given any medications or other types of treatments that are expected.

5. Symptoms Ignored-

This medical error is when a doctor or any other person who takes care of a patient ignores their symptoms. For example, the patient may be suffering from an infection when they go to the emergency room and they are given pain medication and then discharged without conducting any tests on them. Some patients may also experience pain or discomfort but they are not given anything because doctors think that it's just what's supposed to happen.

6. Wrong Treatment/Drugs-

Some medical errors are caused when a patient is given the wrong treatment or they are given the wrong drug. This type of error can be fatal if it's not addressed immediately.

7. Wrong Diagnosis-

Some patients may develop complications because they were diagnosed with something that they don't have. For example, some doctors diagnose patients who think that they have cancer but in reality, they don't and this can lead to complications and even death if it's not addressed immediately.

8. Unnecessary Interventions-

This type of medical error is when a patient undergoes unnecessary interventions such as surgery or procedures.

9. Incomplete Documentation-

This type of medical error occurs when there is lack of information on their charts, in particular, lab reports. When this happens, nurses may miss important information that they need to know to provide the right treatment or medication for their patients.

10. Unnecessary Discharge-

Sometimes doctors discharge patients even though they are not healed yet.