With increasingly complex medical advances and rapidly evolving technology, the risk of causing unintentional harm has increased, as well.

The revised American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, "Principles of Pediatric Patient Safety: Reducing Harm Due to Medical Care," appearing in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics (published online Monday, May 30), cites several studies including one that found seven failures to prevent a clinically important deterioration per 100 hospitalized children, another that found 100 prescribing errors per 1,000 children seen in a emergency room, and another that found three preventable adverse drug events per 100 children seen in pediatric practices.

Reducing unintended harm to pediatric patients requires pediatricians to support and adopt a culture of safety by assuming responsibility for patient outcomes, identifying and reporting errors and adverse events, and disseminating proven patient safety interventions to prevent errors and eliminate avoidable harm.

Source:
American Academy of Pediatrics