Priorities
Nearly half the public say they are very concerned about an error resulting in injury happening to themselves or their family when they receive health care in general (47%), and when they go to a hospital for care (47%). These concerns rank higher than concern about error resulting in injury when flying on commercial airlines* (32%) and when purchasing food at the supermarket (30%). However, when asked to choose what they worry about most with their own health care, being the victim of a medical mistake (7%) ranks lower than not being able to afford long-term care (27%), insurance refusing to cover treatment (23%), and their doctor not being covered under a new plan (14%).
While the public reports being concerned about the issue of medical errors, prevention of medical errors is not something that ranks highest in the public’s open-ended responses to questions about the top problems facing health care and medicine (a list which is topped by the cost of care and prescription drugs, insurance company issues, and access to health care).
Personal experience with medical errors
After being read a common definition of medical errors, about one-third of Americans (34%) report that they have been personally involved in a situation where a preventable medical error was made in their own care or that of a family member. On a comparison survey of physicians, a similar share (35%) of physicians report the same. One might be concerned about the potential for over-reporting of medical errors among the public. However, the fact that the public’s and physicians’ reported experiences are nearly identical is reassuring, since physicians are likely to be in a more informed position to evaluate the care that they or their family members have received.
Perceptions about medical errors
About a third of the public says that preventable medical errors occur often – both in general (7% “very” often, 29% “somewhat” often), and in their own care (8% “often”, 26% “sometimes”). However, the public is more likely to believe that medical errors are an infrequent occurrence in their own care than in care in general - 22% say their own health care providers “never” make mistakes in treating them, whereas just 8% say that, in general, medical errors happen “not often at all”.
Many people harbor misconceptions about the number of deaths caused by medical errors. About half (49%) of the public believe that 5,000 deaths or fewer occur in hospitals each year due to preventable medical errors. This number is far lower than either the high or the low estimates in the 1999 report on medical errors from the Institute of Medicine.
Causes and solutions
When given a list of nine possible causes of preventable medical errors, at least half the public sees seven of these causes as very important. When further asked to choose between mistakes made by health professionals and those made by health care institutions as a more important cause of medical errors, a majority of the public (52%) chooses mistakes made by individuals. This is contrast to the belief by most experts in this field that systems, rather than individuals, are responsible for the majority of preventable medical errors.
The public sees value in many different proposed solutions to prevent medical errors. One area where there is a substantial difference between the views of physicians and those of the public is on public reporting of medical errors. While the public sees mandatory reporting as a very effective way of reducing errors and wants these reports to be publicly available, physicians believe that such reports be kept confidential.
* Note: This survey was conducted before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
