Medical mistakes in Maryland hospitals rose by 5% in fiscal 2023, the state health department reported Sept. 12 in its annual report on the Hospital Patient Safety Program, though it doesn’t explain why it takes more than two years to assemble the data.
Of the 808 most serious level 1 incidents in the report, 49 resulted in the death of the patient. Most of the serious injuries were the results of falls and pressure injuries, such as bedsores. The report attributes some of the rise to the after-effects of the covid pandemic and personnel issues due to staffing shortages and stress.
One thing I did not see mentioned in the report as a cause of medical issues is that perhaps the staff employed at these medical facilities do not always understand what is being asked of them when it comes to patient care, something I personally experienced…