Major U.S. passenger airlines have forged a phenomenal safety record largely by relying on pilots, controllers and mechanics to voluntarily report incipient hazards. Analyzing such incident data and then disseminating lessons from it has meant more than a decade without a fatal crash.
Over the same period, the country’s healthcare system has tried to mimic some of these air-safety principles, but it has made scant progress in eliminating deadly treatment errors. Mistakes in hospitals are estimated to cause at least 250,000 unnecessary patient deaths annually in the U.S., reports The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 4-5, 2021).This makes it the fourth leading cause of medical fatalities after cancer, heart disease and Covid-19. Determined to do better, healthcare leaders are now doubling down on aviation’s lead.
The heart of the idea is prodding doctors and hospitals to share more digital data and wholeheartedly embrace self-reporting of their potentially deadly “near misses,” the way that pilots already do without fear of punishment. But as long as hospital equipment isn’t designed to guard against human slip-ups, as jetliner cockpits are, “it will be far too easy to crash the plane in healthcare,” says one hospital Chief Quality Officer.
One obstacle is that financial incentives for hospitals are still not aligned around quality and safety. Typical billing practices track the number and complexity of procedures instead of the outcomes. Information sharing in healthcare is pitiful compared to aviation. When medical errors are reported, it’s usually well after the fact, and information usually stays within the organization.
One element of air safety that has already made big inroads in medicine is reliance on checklists, in large part thanks to Dr. Atul Gawande’s 2009 bestselling book “The Checklist Manifesto.” which we previously noted in this blog.
Classroom discussion questions:
- Compare this article to the OM in Action box called “A Hospital Benchmarks Against the Ferrari Racing Team” on page 223 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text.
- Now discuss this article in light of the OM box called “Safe Patients, Safe Hospitals” on page 231.
