Flying is safer than being in a hospital

[mdklatt]

http://www.avweb.com/newswire/12_03b.../191411-1.html

Statistics show you're a lot safer in a U.S. airliner than in a U.S. hospital and a consulting firm says medicine can learn a lot from aviation. Lifewings Partners LLC, made up of military and commercial pilots, along with active doctors, teaches healthcare providers the principles of aviation crew resource management with the goal of reducing the number of potentially life-threatening errors that happen in hospitals. According to a news release issued by Lifewings, 34 percent of critically ill patients in U.S. hospitals experienced mistakes in their medical care. It's the highest rate among developed countries. By contrast, the FAA published in 1996 that if you flew on "one flight at random each day, [you] would, on average, go for 21,000 years before perishing in a fatal crash." The statement is based off data that suggests your chances of being in fatal airline crash are one in eight million. Lifewings teaches CRM techniques to healthcare professionals and the effects have been significant for one prestigious medical center. Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports that it has "eliminated wrong surgeries," which undoubtedly has gone a long way toward improving "expected-to-observed mortality ratios." That's also cut malpractice suits.

[OUstudent4life]

uuhhhh...yeah. newsflash: our healthcare is bad. with the stories I've heard...

but still, define "mistakes." mistakes that caused the patient to become critically ill, or just mistakes?

[OUDoc]

I don't make misteaks.

[Okieflyer]

It's not really a reflection on the healthcare...



...must be those terrific FAA employees!

[Okla-homey]

Plus, hospitals don't have beverage service. At least aboard airlines, you get to drink enroute to the horrible and firey death that will spread your molecules over several acres. That's a credit on the airline side of the death ledger IMHO.

[mdklatt]

From what I understand about hospitals (i.e., what I've seen on ER) they operate like airline crews did in the old days. There's one guy in charge, and his word is gospel. Inexperienced doctors and nurses are less likely to speak up if they see a mistake, and if they do speak up they're often overruled.

In the airline world everything is about Crew Resource Managment now. The captain has the ultimate authority, but all crew members are encouraged to participate equally in ensuring the safety of the flight. There are lots of checks and balances.

From above:

Lifewings teaches CRM techniques to healthcare professionals and the effects have been significant for one prestigious medical center. Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports that it has "eliminated wrong surgeries," which undoubtedly has gone a long way toward improving "expected-to-observed mortality ratios."

[OU Adonis]

I don't make misteaks.

So how do you explain that time where you were doing a breast exam for some 20something woman who was in just to get a prescription for birth control?

[IB4OU2]

So how do you explain that time where you were doing a breast exam for some 20something woman who was in just to get a prescription for birth control?

Preventive medicine is never a mistake.........

[Okla-homey]

From what I understand about hospitals (i.e., what I've seen on ER) they operate like airline crews did in the old days. There's one guy in charge, and his word is gospel. Inexperienced doctors and nurses are less likely to speak up if they see a mistake, and if they do speak up they're often overruled.

In the airline world everything is about Crew Resource Managment now. The captain has the ultimate authority, but all crew members are encouraged to participate equally in ensuring the safety of the flight. There are lots of checks and balances.

From above:

Exactly. I'll say this, and this is not a slam of docs, but you want to be in a hospital where the nursing staff feel sufficiently empowered to speak up if they see a doc about to goof-up. Hospitals tend to acquire a particular "culture" of either encouraging or discouraging that sort of thing. The good docs, and the good hospitals are the ones who do that -- afterall, the important thing is that the inevitable mistakes get noticed and fixed, no matter who does the noticing. That's also the essence of CRM.

[KABOOKIE]

Gear up.
Flaps up.
Shut up.

Sometimes those days are missed.

[Red October]

Gear up.
Flaps up.
Shut up.

The life of a co-pilot.

[mrowl]

I read an article awhile back that stated malpractice, or prescription drugs, is the #3 cause of death now in the US. Behind Heart disease and cancer... I need to find that article.

[Okla-homey]

The life of a co-pilot.

he forgot the part about "when I want your opinion I'll beat it out of you"