Medical errors in Japan

August 14, 2008

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Mainichi Daily News reports that the number of annual near misses in healthcare reached 200,000 for the first time in 2007, with more than 3,000 of them having been capable of turning fatal.

The survey, which was announced by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care, also found that more than one fourth of the cases concerned prescriptions and other pharmaceutical mistakes.

Among the incidents, 27 percent involved prescriptions and preparations of drugs; 17 percent had to do with the use and management of medical equipment; and 9 percent concerned caretaking in medical treatment.

Those who were primarily involved in the near misses were nurses, comprising 73 percent. The causes of medicine-related cases included mistakes in identifying the names or the amount of drugs to be administered to patients, as well as errors in setting the rates for intravenous drips.

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