Dennis Quaid talks medical errors with Oprah

As Oprah Winfrey goes, so goes America. Which is why patient-safety advocates were pleased to see the influential media celebrity feature medical errors on a recent “Oprah” show.

On her March 10 show, Winfrey hosted Dennis Quaid, the actor whose newborn twins were given serious overdoses of the blood thinner heparin last year at 914-bed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The popular talk show host also demonstrated medication management technology from San Diego-based developer IntelliDot Corp. during the show.

The hospital’s error spurred a flurry of activity within the healthcare quality movement. Since then, Quaid has become a highly visible advocate for increased patient safety, touting the need for more information technology such as bar coding and computer physician-order entry systems in hospitals. In addition, Quaid is planning to give a keynote address on safety and technology at the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Chicago next month.

It’s a welcomed visibility, according to other patient-safety supporters. Helen Haskell, who started the group Mothers Against Medical Error in 2000 after her son died from a medication error and a subsequent hospital system breakdown, said celebrity involvement in the patient-safety movement has made a “huge difference.”

“After a celebrity error, it becomes news when someone else suffers the same error,” Haskell said. “People begin to understand that these errors are common and that they can happen to anybody.”

Ilene Corina, president of PULSE of New York, has been instrumental in the grass-roots safety movement in New York. While she was glad to see safety featured prominently on a national show, Corina said her initial reaction was frustration. The country needs more than 30 minutes of an hourlong show to be taught about safety, she said.

Still, such prominence is helpful, Corina added. “It means that what we have been saying is now confirmed, that we must be vigilant and involved in our care,” Corina said.

A version of this story initially appeared in this week's edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

What do you think? Submit a letter to Your Views. Please include your name, title, company and hometown. Health IT Strategist reserves the right to edit all submissions.

Also, please share your thoughts by taking our latest HITS reader poll.