Being Human Hurts Patients. Being tired causes errors...it’s true whether you are a truck driver or a doctor. Medical errors are things like getting the wrong medication, being prescribed the wrong test, being diagnosed with the wrong problem. And it’s a huge problem as it is the 3rd leading cause of death. Medical errors happen for many, many reasons including doctors and nurses being tired, distracted, forgetful or simply out-of-date with best practices. Only one of the issues with medical errors is burn out. Lets face it, the bigger problem is that people are faulty instruments when it comes to high reliability, consistency and memory. That’s why I’m hopeful about technology-assisting advancements such as ‘smart’ (meaning automated) order sets, Smart radiological readings for x-rays, and ‘early warning’ technologies that diagnose medical conditions before they’ve advanced, just to name a few. The time is coming when the scope of what doctors do is narrower and more augmented by advanced capabilities. We should embrace this because honestly, right now, Healthcare is a very dangerous place for patients. Selected Excerpt: “There is growing evidence that physician burnout may be responsible for up to 200,000 deaths in US hospitals every year.” …see more