The Canadian Institute of Health and Information issued a report this week saying over 100,000 Canadians are unintentionally harmed during hospital stays.
Director of Health Systems Analysis and Emerging Issues, Tracy Johnson says a further breakdown clarifies where these incidents happen. “We found about 37% happened in health care and associated medical associated conditions, another 37% in infections, 23% in procedure and another 3% in falls.”
Johnson adds these issues end up being very costly on the country’s medical system in more ways than one.
“Patients who experience harm end up spending about 4 extra days in the hospital. That doesn’t sound like much but when you add it up with all of those 138,000 extra hospitalizations you end up with more than half a million extra days in a year that patients spend in hospitals.”
Northern Health has issued a response to this report and Spokesperson Andrea Palmer believes procedures are already in place to avoid unintentional at their facilities.
“Checking the identity of patients before giving them medication or before going in for a procedure and surgical teams complete a three-phase checklist to make sure all precautions are taken before, during and after surgery.”
Palmer adds a provincial program is already in place that has helped curb the problem in BC.
“Thousand of patients across BC access the Patient Care Quality Program to have their concerns addressed in a timely and consistent way and everybody who has questions about their care can contact the PCQP office.”
The number to call the Northern Health Authority Office is 1-877-677-7715.
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