IU Health makes most errors

IU Health had the most reported errors of any hospital system in Indiana last year, according to the 2010 Medical Error Report. However, the number of serious medical errors was three fewer than in 2009, from 22 to 19.   

Medical errors made in IU Health hospitals included eight foreign objects left behind during surgeries, six cases of bedsores, four falls resulting in death or injury and one incident of surgery performed on the wrong body part.

Terry Whitson, author of the report, said the title can be misleading.

“I think there are two factors,” Whitson said. “If you go down the list of all hospitals and the ones that have the most numbers, it’s mostly the size of the hospital. The second one is the complexity of the procedures.”

IU Health is the largest hospital system in Indiana with three separate hospitals: Methodist Hospital, IU Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children. When the volume of patients treated is taken into account, the number of errors is not disproportionate, said Margi Smith-Simmons, the public relations manager for IU Health.

“In terms of those three hospitals in 2010, we admitted more than 58,000 patients and that error rate is 0.20 percent,” Smith-Simmons said.

Between these three IU Health hospitals, health professionals performed approximately 70,600 medical procedures.

 Whitson also said the complicated procedures done at IU Health make the system more prone to errors.

“If you look at a smaller hospital, they don’t have as many procedures, and they’re not as complex when they do it,” Whitson said.

Several changes to the way the report is compiled in recent years may have played a role in the high numbers, Whitson said. For example, patient falls that result in serious injury or disability, rather than death, are included in the total.

“By making the definition a broader definition, I believe in 2009 we increased the number from about nine to 17, and probably what that reflects is the change in definition,” Whitson said.

Another source of medical errors is pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, Smith-Simmons said.

“This is a problem that patients and or families can help address and be aware that these can happen,” Whitson said.

Smith-Simmons said that in 2010, there were zero pressure ulcers at Riley Hospital for Children, which was an improvement.

Both Smith-Simmons and Whitson said any medical errors are unacceptable, and that IU Health plans to perform an analysis on all the individual errors that occurred in 2010.

“Every hospital, any time they have an error, regardless of whether it is one that is reported to the state or one that is not, they will try to do what we call an analysis,” Whitson said. “It’s part of their quality assurance system. Their responsibility is to review any error and to prevent any future errors of that nature.”

Smith-Simmons said the reduction in errors from 2009 to 2010 could be considered a positive result for IU Health.

“We’re slowly getting better and we’re definitely improving,” Smith-Simmons said.