"Conversations with ..." is a series of exclusive video interviews with leaders of medical research and policy. In this segment, filmed earlier this year, George Lundberg, MD, discusses how to solve the problem of medical errors with Lucian Leape, MD, adjunct professor of public health at the Harvard School of Public Health and recognized as the founder of the patient safety movement.
An estimated 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors, according to an often cited 1999 Institute of Medicine report. In this segment, Leape, a member of the committee that issued that report, pointed out that based on the most recent studies, those statistics miss many more fatalities.
Yet, he said, physicians and policymakers lack a reliable source of data to track these numbers consistently over time. "The big problem is that you can't rely on people to report when things go wrong," Leape said. But there's good news: physicians have greatly eliminated central line infections, improved hand hygiene, and implemented effective surgical time outs. And that progress is just a start, he told MedPage Today.