Medical Errors in the Emergency Department

Emergency departments across South Asia are prone to medical errors like the rest of the world. Due to the nature of work, the chance of medical error is much more as compared to other areas of health care. The wide spectrum of disease presentation coupled with acuity and timeliness of the condition, multiple treatment plans, and multiple specialties makes a good recipe for medical errors. Most of these medical errors are related to adverse drug events, improper transfusions, mis-diagnosis, under and over-treatment, and mistaken patient identities. Adequate training of the physician and nursing staff working in the Emergency Department is our best insurance against these errors.