During a two year period from 2004 to 2006 it was reported that over 188,000 lives were lost due to what is called a “failure to rescue”. A failure to rescue occurs when a patient dies in a hospital from preventable complications due to hospital caregivers failing to recognize the patient is dying. For the fifth straight year, an analysis of errors in the nation’s hospitals found that the most reported patient safety risk is a little-known but always-fatal problem called failure to rescue. One measure that has been implemented by some hospitals to combat this problem is “Condition H”. Patients are allowed, even encouraged, to speak up by activating Condition H, a code that summons immediate help. Patients call the same emergency number that doctors and nurses use.
