59 Percent of Nurses Surveyed Believe Hospitals are Unsafe
The medical malpractice law firm of Farah & Farah ran into a disturbing article in UPI.com, which alleged that 59 percent of nurses surveyed in the U.S., Britain, and China believed that the hospitals they worked in were not safe for patients.
Only 41 percent of the registered nurses in the survey indicated that he or she thought their hospital was safe. Much of the blame cast for the lack of patient safety had to do with ineffective safety programs, poor communication, and hospital environments in which nurses feared being punished for reporting mistakes and near misses.
While 94 percent of the nurses surveyed said that their hospitals had patient safety programs, 57 percent believed that those programs were ineffective. Many of the nurses felt that the way safety programs were designed had much to do with the lack of effectiveness. While many safety programs in other industries rely on employees reporting errors and discussing those errors in a group setting, nurses complained that they were afraid of being penalized if they reported mistakes they had made.
The survey found that 59 percent of the nurses did not report errors due to fear of punishment, while 90 percent said that it was important to have a hospital culture in which they did not need to fear being penalized for reporting mistakes.
If you believe you or a loved one has been harmed in an unsafe hospital setting, it is important that you contact the hospital malpractice lawyers of Farah & Farah to find out what your legal options might be. You may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other damages. We can be reached at (800) 533-3555 or contact us online for your free, no-obligation consultation. Find out how we can help you today.
