Critical Errors

It was a term in a report that was incorrect. Like: Patient had mole removed from left shoulder, and I said patient had mole removed from left elbow. Foreign dictator, slurred over the location, could have sworn, though. Listened over and over, looked at report for context. Felt confident enough that it didn't need to go to QA.

Feeling sorry for myself tonight. Work so hard, so PROUD of the work I do, the passing audits, meeting line count, showing up on time for shifts, even having moved my shifts around to help out, in spite of being asked for more. Putting up with everything we all put up with and still having a work ethic to be proud of.

And the critical error is just so demoralizing. Do we get fired over critical errors? I don't even know.

But it made me think about the other critical errors I see on the weekly report for our BOB. Someone left off a date of service. Date of service here. Date of service there. Someone left off a cc.

Every once in a great while a lab value or medication value. Occasionally an error like mine.

Now, I totally get the lab and medication values as critical errors. Correct patient name and patient data. Huge!

But I trained MTs for years as a contractor who hired subcontractors. And when one of us leaves off a date of service... Doesn't enter an INCORRECT date of service, mind you, just leaves it off, that strikes me as more of an INCONVENIENCE for Medical Records. Am I not seeing this accurately? Is it not possible to look up correct date of service from the customer end?

I am in NO WAY saying they should have to do this. I totally get that this might be a hassle and they have every right to expect us to do it for them. But my question is: Is this truly a CRITICAL error? In other words, by definition: having the potential to become disastrous. Similarly, if you accidentally leave off a cc, is that potentially disastrous? Or just a big pain in the sit-down for doctor or Medical Records, even patient, who really wanted that provider copied?

My personal feeling is that the ONLY truly critical errors are when you actually have the wrong patient, the wrong dictator, the wrong medication dosage, the wrong lab or imaging value, or the wrong person on the cc list. The wrong anatomy, like my own, error, probably. If nothing else, it could create a coding or billing hassle. But a critical error, by definition, should be potentially disastrous.

So I am not letting myself off the hook. But I do not think what MModal is calling critical errors are in fact all that critical. Wrong date of service, maybe that's critical. But no date of service? Just an inconvenience.

I just had to vent tonight. I hate failing audits. I hate making serious errors. I am embarassed at having made a critical one. But it made me rethink what I see defined as critical.

And I won't even get started on the minor or noncritical ones, many of which I think should be overlooked completely. But you know what my pet peeve is? If ASR expands an acceptable term like "O2 sat" to oxygen saturation, in the interest of speed, WHY is it such a big deal for me to leave it expanded? If it's not a verbatim account, who should possibly care if the report looks BETTER? And why should that be an error?

Use Rich Text Editor with Full Options CLOSE

Critical Errors - LTMT

Post A Reply

Reply By Email