Almost one in five Iowans said they or someone they are close with have personally experienced a medical error, such as a surgical mistake, wrong diagnosis or incorrect medication, according to a survey conducted by Heartland Health Research Institute and featured in the Des Moines Register.
Of those who indicated experience with a medical error, most (59 percent) said they occurred in hospitals. The second most common location for medical errors was clinics (29 percent of respondents), followed by nursing homes (4 percent). Eight percent of respondents said it occurred in another location or were unsure of where the error happened, according to the report.
The survey also notes that the majority of respondents who experienced medical errors were not informed by medical staff of the mistake (60 percent), and 90 percent said they felt the errors were likely preventable.
The results are based on a survey of 1,100 randomly selected adults.
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