Definition of Preventable Medical Errors

Definition of preventable medical errors
Medical errors have become a common sight in almost every hospital we go these days. There are several medical errors a few of them being the negligence in treatment or diagnosing well but giving the wrong treatment due to sheer negligence. A medical error occurs in case the provider of health care fails in his duty to provide the appropriate care in the treatment. The precedence of the word preventable before the words ‘medical errors’ is due to the fact that there are certain errors in health sector of which the preventability can be seldom questioned and there are some errors which can be questioned easily. Hence in other words the avoidable medical errors are termed to be preventable medical errors.

 Take the example of giving a wrong prescription. This is an example of an error which can be easily questioned. But in case of certain errors in treatments, the research of which is done by several journal experts, then it is very tough to question them. The following are a few causes for the medical errors, the first one being a diagnostic error. This error has the chance of occurrence when the doctor is unaware of a disease or has acted wrongly according to the information given to him by some other. It may also happen due to the lack of proper communication between the providers of medical service. The third reason could be the incorrect maintenance of records. The other reason could be errors in prescription. It could also be due to the overwork of the medical staff.