MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Health Department released a report Friday showing the number of times hospitals and same-day surgery centers reported errors, or mistakes, between October 2017 and October 2018.
The report breaks down 29 categories of "adverse events," which includes medication errors resulting in serious injury or death, falls resulting in serious injury or death, bedsores, wrong-site surgeries, and times objects, like a sponge or the tip of a tool, remained in a patient's body after surgery.
Overall, out of more than five million times patients were admitted to the hospital, there were 384 reported errors.
According to the report, almost one third of the errors resulted in serious injury and around two percent resulted in death.
Rachel Jokela, director of the health department's Adverse Health Events Program, says the overall takeaway is that the number of errors is increasing.
"We're not satisfied with the status quo and kind of where things have settled out over the past couple of years where some events are remaining about the same, some are increasing," Jokela said.
There was a significant increase in bedsores, which often affects patients who are extremely sick and are harder to move around. Medical devices can also cause bedsores. Jokela says hospitals should monitor devices and reduce pressure when needed.
"This upcoming year, we'll be convening a conversation with our external and internal partners to look at our system and look at if there are ways that we could evolve that system to keep patients safer in Minnesota," she said.
When it comes to falls causing serious injury or death, Jokela says, in the 15 years the report has existed, falls have always been an issue. She says hospitals should have precautions in place such as floor mats or bedside commodes.
The report did show some improvement. Specifically, in the wrong-site surgery category. This means there were fewer times surgeons operated on the wrong body part. There were 24 last year as compared to 36 last year.
"The responsibility is on hospitals and surgery centers to prevent these events but you can also try to advocate for yourself by being an informed patient, knowing what surgery or procedure you're having done if you go to the hospital and speaking up if something doesn't seem right or if something seems off," she said.
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