Avoidable errors
Thursday February 3 2005 08:07 IST
By Karmayogi
Experts in management
know that avoiding avoidable waste changes a losing company into a
profit-making one. Waste becomes a source of prestige and status, especially
with the newly rich. To them the capacity to waste is a sign of assured
abundance. It is a superstition.
Not only is it a superstition, but it is inevitable, as a toddler cannot learn
walking avoiding the fall. But to enjoy falling at the age of 3 is not wise. It
is more than ignorance, a capacity to enjoy being ignorant commonly called
superstition.
It is pardonable in nations that are developing. It is said a million patients
are infected variously every year in the USA by doctors not washing their hands. I
wish such studies are instituted in our country. Doctors advise their patients
who are close to them not to trust the test results as the lab often does not
carry out the test, but approximately fills in the columns activating its
imagination.
Laws, unbailable at that, prescribing jail terms to such people will help the
cause of humanity. But we cannot be too righteous about such things as in our
own life there are plenty of aspects resembling such crimes. Should there be an
outraged emotion, it is best directed against the Self. As the CT scan was, for
some reason, working in the reverse, a surgeon operated on the wrong lobe of
the patient's brain. It is a misfortune. It was in USA.
Interns work long hours, miss their sleep, have to take important decisions in
emergencies. As against a normal work week of 40 hours, they go up to 80 hours
ordinarily, or occasionally to 130 hours. The wrong diagnosis in ICUs is up to
39%. It is a surprise that in these advanced nations, even in sophisticated
hospitals, the capacity to change, change for the better is little. There are
some hospitals which abound in errors in prescriptions, often leading to
fatality. An experiment was conducted to eliminate the errors. Doctors were
sent to institutes to correct their handwriting.
The computer was introduced and 86% of such errors were eliminated. This is their
own experience. Still, the resistance to avoid these errors, the unwillingness
to change old habits, is great. Any new invention corrects to a very large
extent, even up to 90% the errors of an old method.
The ills of such hospitals can be minimised or eradicated if computer is
introduced to prevent them. They know that pilots double check before they
enter their planes, but are unwilling to adopt similar measures. A machine –
computer – cannot err, where a man out of laziness or forgetfulness errs. In
this sense, the computer is a boon. The scope of introducing the computer is
vast. E.g. the 40% wrong diagnosis can be fully avoided if computer crosschecks
the diagnosis.
Man can be tense in the ICU, not the machine. Man forgets many related aspects,
the computer will not. To avail of a comfort is to be civilised. To do so for
purposes of saving lives is to be human. Avoid the errors, usher in Prosperity.