Guns don’t kill people, doctors do

I borrowed this from another blog. It is a powerful statement about the state of safety in health care. Any physician who says that the systems in which they practice should be held equally accountable for these medical errors is right! It is not just the physician but the complexity of the systems we have set up which fail. BUT, physicians must stand up as the leaders of the health care team and demand that these preventable errors stop. They must take the time to participate in the system solutions, regardless of the reimbursement they may or may not receive to be a part of the team. The physicians must be the leaders, the rest of us will follow.

From: Robert Sinsheimer
Subject: Medical Safety V. Gun Safety: An email now in circulation
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Doctors
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths (medical error) caused by physicians per year are 120,000.
(C) Deaths due to medical error per physician is 0.171
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Now think about this:
Guns
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188.
Statistics courtesy of FBI
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So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
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Remember, ‘Guns don’t kill people, doctors do.’
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FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
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Physician Performance

Measuring physician performance is not an easy task. There are guidelines, systems, processes to measure but none of it is cut and dry or easy to get and assimilate. There is dissension in the ranks... Most physicians don't want to be measured, or they think they are fine with it until one day, something scary pops up on their "Report Card". Then they believe the data is flawed, risk adjustment is inadequate, blah, blah... The truth is that it not a true or false quiz. We look at trends to identify opportunities. There is no perfect reporting system and no-one likes their information out there for the world to see. But it is reality, so we'll continue to do the best that we can.

The key, I believe, is to align physician and hospital performance measures so that goals are aligned. Hospitals work on system processes to support physician practice. It is the key to success for both hospitals and physician survival in this age of quality. Keep measurement as simple as possible and make sure adequate information exists. In this symbiotic relationship of physician and hospital, it is in all of our best interests to perform well, beyond expectations, strive for perfection.