St. Louis, Missouri, will be featured in the solution segment of the documentary. Again, the Show-me State will show the whole nation how to solve the riddle of medical errors. In the solution segment of the documentary, two experts from Missouri will be featured in the program. Yinka Vidal, BS. MA. H.ASCP., and Max M. Cohen, MD. MHSA. FRCSC. FACS. FACPE.,  are being interviewed about their national studies on how to prevent medical errors. ‘Yinka Vidal, the author of 101 Ways to Prevent Medical Errors and the Chair of the National Campaign to Prevent Medical Errors, has been working on medical errors for 25 years. He started working on solution intervention more than three years ago. He has written two books on the subject matter and is presently working on the third one. In his interview, he stresses that medical errors are not caused by a complex health-care system, but rather by “simple systemic failures.” He describes American medicine as being the best in the world and states that the United States spends more money on the advancement of medical research than any other nation. “But, there are defects in the processes of delivering care; those defects manifest themselves as simple systemic failures,” says ‘Yinka Vidal.

 “Solution design resulting from root-cause analysis is not as difficult as many people may think. But, the greatest challenge lies with the processes of solution implementation,” stresses ‘Yinka Vidal, the author of 101 Ways to Prevent Medical Errors and the Managing Editor of OUTCRY Magazine. The hospital administrations must work hard to “buy-in” employees on new ideas while workers must be energized to achieve positive results! He explains that for solution intervention to be successful, three major components must be present. First, the process of delivering care must be evaluated for defects, and the system must be redesigned to prevent errors. Second, health-care workers must be made receptive to improvement strategies. Third, health care institutions must foster the environment for the successful implementation of solution intervention. For more information on solution intervention, and why medical errors continue, read the article on Why Medical Errors Continue – Part II: Solving the Mystery of Medical Errors,  by ‘Yinka Vidal - - - coming soon.

 Dr. Cohen, the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Missouri Baptist Medical Center, is also featured in the solution-implementation segment of this documentary.  In the interview, Dr. Cohen points out that humans will always make mistakes. But, when errors occur, mechanisms should be put in place to prevent such errors from occurring again. As humans, we are unwilling to accept the reality that we make mistakes. In health care, as in any other industry, mistakes are very common. In the past years not a lot of changes have taken place regarding medical errors. He indicates that the total cost of medical errors greatly exceeds $10 billion annually. In response to questions directed to him, Dr. Cohen gives some hints to other health care professionals to help prevent errors.  He stresses that surgeons should be careful not to leave any surgical instrument inside a patient. A modern anesthetic machine will monitor vital sign parameters, and it should be calibrated and be in good working condition. He indicates that most hospitals are equipped to deal with emergencies, and the out-patient surgery department should be regulated with the same guidelines as the regular hospitals.

 This type of documentary is very different from most other media reports about medical errors. In the past, most news reports on medical errors were centered on problems without discussing solution intervention or what hospitals were doing to remedy the situations. Consequently, many health care workers and health care institutions shy away from such reports because they create sensationalism, rather than help to explore solutions. Although many hospitals are working to solve the problems, their efforts are hardly rewarded by the media’s lack of interest in reporting about different solution strategies. The Discovery Channel is leading the national media in discussing problems of medical errors and solution interventions. This is the first time a major national medium will be featuring solution intervention on medical errors and the barriers encountered by those working to reduce these errors. Such a program on the Discovery Channel is very important and laudable because it will educate the public about what health-care institutions are doing to prevent errors. It will also teach patients how they can help to be a part of their treatments, as well as open a door for a public dialogue regarding solution interventions.

 For more information about the exact time and date the documentary will air, please visit www.101waystopreventerrors.com or www.discoverychannel.com 

 Bill Hochauser, Tom Taglang and Roshika Vannie of Film Garden Entertainment of Hollywood, California, produced the documentary for the Discovery Channel. Stay tuned for more information about the forthcoming documentary. This is a program that all health-care workers in the nation must see.