Canadian Healthcare Technology Logo
  • Issues
    • Current Print Issue
    • Print Archive
  • Advertise
    • Publishing Schedule
    • Circulation
    • Unit Sizes and Rates
    • Mechanical Requirements
    • Electronic Advertising
    • White Papers
  • Subscribe
    • Print Edition
    • e-Messenger
    • White Papers
  • Events
  • Vendors
  • About Us

GE Revolution Ascend

GE Revolution Ascend

Enovacom EPC

Enovacom EPC

Patient Safety

N.S. government posts medical errors on website

August 20, 2014


Catherine Gaulton

HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has followed through on a promise, posting its medical mistakes registry on the health department website, CBC News has reported. According to the government website, making the information public “raises the level of accountability – and demonstrates a commitment to transparency and openness. The goal is to share lessons learned and prevent the event from happening again.”

For the first six months of 2014, 27 serious adverse events were reported. Twenty-one of those incidents resulted in “adverse health effects leading to death or serious disability” while a patient was being cared for at a facility in Nova Scotia, including three incidents where a patient died or was injured after a fall while being cared for by a district health authority or the IWK.

Other mistakes include five patient suicides or attempted suicides, three serious diagnostic errors and six cases of severe bedsores.

“But there’s not necessarily causation between one and the other,” said chair of the Nova Scotia quality and patient safety advisory committee, Catharine Gaulton (pictured). She said the information instead aims to “trigger a review to see whether there is in fact an opportunity for improvement.” Details of the incidents were withheld for patient safety.

Mistake victims: Sharon Fisher was the victim of a diagnostic mistake in 2013. Her breast was removed after a lab error mixed up her biopsy results with another patient with cancer.

“Oh no, you never get used to it,” she says. “I still haven’t looked in a mirror and I won’t.” Her case prompted the province to create the new policy on reporting serious adverse events.

Before this year, the nine health authorities across the province had their own methods of dealing with mistakes that led to serious disability or death. The new policy now dictates incidents from all authorities be reported to the Department of Health and Wellness within 12 hours.

Tanya Barnett has long been pushing for a documented approach to medical mistakes and will be taking a close look at what is released. Barnett lost her 17-year-old daughter Jessica after test results were read in error by specialists. That led to a faulty diagnosis.

“The trend may be that one particular physician is not doing a very good job,” she says. “They need to know that, to take matters into their own hands to fix that.”

Barnett posted a YouTube video that chronicled her daughter’s misdiagnosis at the IWK Health Centre. It has been viewed 37,000 times.

Too few mistakes? Personal injury lawyer Ray Wagner says 27 seems like a low number of incidents for the first six months of 2014, but thinks it will empower patients.

“It enables patients to be able to look at the data and say ‘I’m going in to this particular location for this particular procedure. There have been some problems with, for instance, post-operative care, maybe there’s been a higher infection rate. I’m going to be more vigilant, I’m going to ask more questions,’” he says.

PreviousNext

SteraMist (Feb)

SteraMist (Feb)

News and Trends

  • RACE streamlines patient journey
  • Healthcare supply chain needs a re-think, observers say
  • EDI spots pricing anomalies in Ontario’s healthcare supply chain
  • AI centres of excellence and companies collaborate on apps
  • Talking Stick: New hope for Indigenous mental healthcare
More from the Print Edition

Subscribe

Subscribe

Free of charge to Canadian hospital managers and executives in nursing homes and home-care organizations. Learn More

Follow us on Social Media!

Follow us on Social Media!

Nihi Data [Winter 2023]

Nihi Data [Winter 2023]

WP

WP

Advertise with us

Advertise with us

Sectra One Cloud

Sectra One Cloud

Change Healthcare [2]

Change Healthcare [2]

Infoway [Feb2023]

Infoway [Feb2023]

Zebra

Zebra

CHT print-200×400

CHT print-200x400

SteraMist (Feb)

SteraMist (Feb)

Advertise with us

Advertise with us

Sectra One Cloud

Sectra One Cloud

Change Healthcare [2]

Change Healthcare [2]

Infoway [Feb2023]

Infoway [Feb2023]

Zebra

Zebra

CHT print-200×400

CHT print-200x400

Contact Us

Canadian Healthcare Technology
1118 Centre Street, Suite 207
Thornhill, Ontario, Canada L4J 7R9
Tel: 905-709-2330
Fax: 905-709-2258
info2@canhealth.com

  • Quick Links
    • Current Print Issue
    • Print Archive
    • Events
    • Vendors
    • About Us
  • Advertise
    • Publishing Schedule
    • Circulation
    • Unit Sizes and Rates
    • Mechanical Requirements
    • Electronic Advertising
    • White Papers
  • Subscribe
    • Print Edition
    • e-Messenger
    • White Papers
  • Resources
    • White Papers
    • Writers’ Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
  • Topics
    • Administrative Solutions
    • Clinical Solutions
    • Companies
    • Continuing Care
    • Diagnostics
    • Education & Training
  •  
    • Electronic Records
    • Government & Policy
    • Infrastructure
    • Innovation
    • People
    • Privacy and Security

© 2023 Canadian Healthcare Technology

The content of Canadian Healthcare Technology is subject to copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. Send all requests for permission to Jerry Zeidenberg, Publisher.

Search Site

Error: Enter a search term

  • Issues
    • Current Print Issue
    • Print Archive
  • Advertise
    • Publishing Schedule
    • Circulation
    • Unit Sizes and Rates
    • Mechanical Requirements
    • Electronic Advertising
    • White Papers
  • Subscribe
    • Print Edition
    • e-Messenger
    • White Papers
  • Events
  • Vendors
  • About Us