La responsabilidad profesional en cardiología

Abstract

Currently, patient safety and the risk of litigation for alleged malpractice are a major concern for everyone. In 1999, the US Institute of Medicine in its publication To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, was of the opinion that medicine was not as safe as it should be. The article reviewed 4 studies on the topic, which reported rates of adverse events of between 2.9% and 3.4% during hospital admissions. Of these, between 53% and 58% could have been prevented. If these data were extrapolated, between 44 000 and 98 000 US citizens died each year due to adverse events during hospital admission, and the scale of the problem could be even larger if adverse events outside the hospital setting were taken into account. The alarming figures highlighted by that report triggered an international debate on the importance of adverse events and medical errors and have definitively aroused general interest in patient safety in health care. In line with the concept of the Institute of Medicine, patient safety is defined as the absence of avoidable errors or complications arising as a result of interaction between the patient and the health system and its professionals when receiving health care. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted resolution WHA55.18, which urged member states to pay as much attention as possible to patient safety and established and reinforced evidence-based measures to improve patient safety and the quality of health care. In 2004, the WHO Alliance for Patient Safety was born with the objective of coordinating, disseminating, and accelerating improvements in patient safety throughout the world. This body was to serve as a vehicle for international collaboration between member states, the WHO, experts, consumers, and health care professionals. The increasing concern and interest for patient safety has prompted positive changes in health care, and rates of adverse events continue to decrease. In Spain, Law 16/2003, pertaining to Cohesion and Quality of the National Health System, placed patient safety at the center of health policy and made it one of the key elements in improving the quality of care, as reflected by strategy number 8 of the Quality Plan for the Spanish National Health System. Patient safety, understood as a marker of quality of care, looks to decrease and prevent the risks associated with health care, and thereby contribute to the excellence of the system.