Though patients might like to believe they are in good hands while being cared for at the hospital, findings show nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, hospital mistakes are a large contributor to the tens of thousands of deaths due to medical errors in the United States each year.

A major part of the problem: Doctors, nurses and other health care workers rarely challenge a colleague when they see a mistake being made in patient care.

Unfortunate Findings

To gather data, researchers spent more than 10,000 hours observing and interviewing more than 2,000 health workers at 19 hospitals across America. Among the disturbing evidence they found:

• Doctors (84 percent) and nurses and other health care providers (62 percent) have seen co-workers repeatedly take shortcuts that could place patients in danger

• Doctors (88 percent) and nurses and other health care providers (48 percent) work with people who show poor clinical judgment

• Fewer than 10 percent of doctors, nurses and other caregivers said they directly confront colleagues about their concerns; one-fifth of those doctors have seen harm come to patients as a result of the behavior of those colleagues

One positive outcome researchers encountered was that those who raised concerns observed better patient care by their peers and were more satisfied and committed to their jobs because of their honesty.

Some instances health workers were reluctant to talk to their colleagues about included matters concerning:

Additionally, reasons for not speaking up included: lack of confidence in their own abilities, doubts that saying something would do any good and fear of retaliation.

Solutions For Improving Hospital Care

As findings clearly showed, the health care system is in dire need of change. Thus, researchers came up with some proposed solutions to the problem:

• Concentrate on building hospital environments that support and demand greater openness among staff, motivating colleagues to share information freely

• Issue a new set of national standards focused on promoting skilled communications among nurses and other caregivers, in addition to other reforms to unify the hospital environment

Seattle Post-Intelligencer January 27, 2005.

Macon Area Online January 27, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

This article acts as yet another major wake-up call to Americans, providing solid evidence exactly as to why the conventional health care system is so desperately in need of change and why facilitating this change is such a substantial portion of my vision. Negative health and lifestyle choices are made because of a lack of knowledge, and it's my intention to increase the public's awareness of the health tragedies facing the nation -- such as ignored medical blunders -- and empower you with the tools needed to become a major force for good health. Conventional Medicine on its Way Out The conventional medical paradigm is fatally flawed. The sad tragedy is that we are spending the majority of this obscene amount on progressively increasing insurance premiums for a system that is based on disease management focused on drugs and surgery. Our return on this investment is profoundly poor. Progressively increasing percentages of the population simply do not have the energy they need to get through the day, while millions of others are suffering with painful crippling diseases because they have violated basic health principles. The bottom line is that the system is crumbling before our eyes. Our country simply cannot afford this nightmare mess and gets nothing -- except lining the pockets of pharmaceutical companies -- in return. Additionally, clever manipulation of the official government death rates conceals the fact that the conventional medical system, not heart disease or cancer is the leading cause of death in this country. Yet, in all fairness, physicians themselves are not the primary reason as they are under the pernicious influence of the multi billion dollar marketing umbrella of the drug companies. If you want to take a giant step toward better health for you and your family, as well as eliminate your dependence on the dishonest and harmful health care system, please consider my Total Health Program. My how-to book goes into much greater detail about the proven health strategies I discuss on my Web site and use in my practice -- and life -- every day. Related Articles: Big Business is Pressuring Hospitals to Cut Mistakes -- and Costs Medical Mistakes Common After Hospital Discharge Modern Health Care System is the Leading Cause of Death Death by Medicine How Many Specialists Report Medical Errors? Even Doctors Suffer From Medical Mishaps