So Says WHO

Guess my shock when I read the title "Going Into Hospital Far Riskier than Flying" in the Los Angeles Times. On the surface, it sounded like a disgruntled individual trying to make a point. Much to my surprise, I found these words were from Liam Donaldson, the World Health Organization’s newly appointed envoy for patient safety.  Stepanie Nebehay from Reuters filed the report from a news briefing held by the WHO.

The facts portrayed a pretty bleak picture about the safety of one’s health during a hospital stay. Donaldson said, “If you were admitted to a hospital tomorrow in any country…your chances of being subjected to an error in your care would be something like 1 in 10. Your chances of dying due to an error in health care would be 1 in 300.”

The report from the World Health Organization was a call to the medical world that they must do much better in caring for those who come to them for healing. Hundreds of millions of people suffer infections linked to health care that could be prevented or reduced by 50% if simple hygienic procedures were followed.

The report stated, “Of every 100 hospitalized patients at any given time, 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one health care-associated infection, according to the United Nations agency…. Each year in the United States, 1.7 million infections are acquired in hospital, leading to 100,000 deaths, a far higher rate than in Europe where 4.5 million infections cause 37,000 deaths.” Read more at this link.

This report, which is about a health care system I don't use, got me to thinking about how I could improve my own health care system, which is based upon prayer and a deep understanding of God. As the article implied, the personnel in hospitals had to express more quality and consistency in their work. For me, as a Christian Scientist and one who sees responsible spiritual healing taking place on a daily basis, the integrity of my healthcare is my own personal responsibility. We cannot forget about our health until there is a physical problem and then scramble for a solution. There are wise choices and proactive steps that are required to maintain a healthy lifestyle. More and more, people are recognizing that spirituality and a prayerful program not only help keep them healthy, it heals them as well.