The term “medical malpractice” likely conjures up a range of concepts or images in a person’s mind. For one person, the first thing that comes to mind is a piece of surgical equipment being left inside the body after a surgery. Another person may initially think about receiving an incorrect diagnosis that requires them to undergo inappropriate treatment.
While the above scenarios may be examples of medical errors, another danger a patient must face is the poor communication skills of their providers.
Study highlights dangers of miscommunication
A study conducted by CRICO Strategies found more than one in four medical errors resulting in patient harm involved some type of miscommunication. In more than half of these scenarios, the communication breakdown occurred between patients and providers. In six out of ten scenarios, the communication breakdown occurred between medical professionals.
The CRICO Strategies study evaluated more than 23,000 medical malpractice cases over a period of five years.
New communication strategy shows promise
According to Becker’s Hospital Review, a team of medical professionals tested out a new process aimed at improving communication in a hospital setting and thereby improving patient safety.
Over the course of three months, the new process led to a reduction in preventable adverse events by 38%.
The crux of the process focused on medical providers ensuring that patients and their family members accurately and fully understood the information shared with them. Providers asked patients or relatives to repeat instructions or other data to them so that the providers could assess the level of understanding and correct any misunderstanding before a problem resulted.
