Medication Errors Affect Half of All Surgeries, According to a Recent Study

A recent study at Massachusetts General Hospital reveals a shocking figure-half of all surgeries are impacted by some kind of medication error.

“There is a substantial potential for medication-related harm and a number of opportunities to improve safety,” according to the study, published in the journal Anesthesiology. More than one-third of the observed errors led to some kind of harm to the patient.

Dr. Karen Nanji, an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General and lead author of the study, noted that most of the focus has been on surgical errors and hasn’t focused on the interplay between medications and surgery.
“In the operating room, things happen very rapidly, and patients’ conditions change quickly, so we don’t have time to go through that whole process, which can take hours,” Nanji said.

This new revelation is not good news for a healthcare industry that doesn’t inspire consumer confidence.