A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care – whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. This can include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection or other ailment.
To assess opinions about medical errors in Iowa, survey respondents were asked if they are familiar with the term “medical error,” defined to survey respondents as:
“Sometimes when people receive medical care, mistakes are made. These mistakes sometimes result in no harm; sometimes, they may result in additional or prolonged treatment, disability, or death. These types of mistakes are called medical errors.”
This infographic provides some key findings from Iowans’ Views on Medical Errors – Iowa Patient Safety Study©. These findings provide a broad overview of just how prevalent medical errors are in Iowa – nearly one-in-five Iowans report they have personally been involved in a medical error or a medical error has occurred to someone close to them. The implications of this finding are included in this infographic.
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