Doctor autonomy linked to medical errors

Medical students need to be fully socialized in their roles as patient agents rather than autonomous decision-makers.


Health News

Doctor autonomy linked to medical errors
Published: Dec. 25, 2008 at 1:31 PM

BALTIMORE, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Despite increased emphasis on patient safety, little progress has been made in making U.S. hospitals safer, a researcher said.
Dr. Peter Pronovost, a critical care specialist at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, identified physician autonomy and a lack of standardization of safety protocols as to why patient safety has not improved.
"It's been almost 10 years since the Institute of Medicine published 'To Err Is Human,' its treatise on the need for increased patient safety initiatives at hospitals," Pronovost said in a statement. "Yet we really haven't made much progress."
An average hospitalized adult will receive recommended therapy only 53 percent of the time and this accounts, in part, for the nearly 100,000 U.S. patients who die each year because of hospital error, Pronovost said.
"Imagine, America has some of the best doctors and medicine in the world, yet we are only getting it right half of the time," Pronovost said.
Pronovost said to improve patient safety medicine must realize:
-- Physicians must balance their autonomy with team-based standardized care therapies.
-- Medical students need to be fully socialized in their roles as patient agents rather than autonomous decision-makers.
-- Evidence-based therapy based on research including risks, benefits and costs should be made explicit.

Pronovost's article appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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