The HU Factor:  A Fresh Approach to the Challenge of Medical Errors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2006
Brattleboro, VT

For More Information:
Suzette Pare'
suzette.pare@PracticingPerfectionInstitute.com
877-832-9492

The HU Factor: A Fresh Approach to the Challenge of Medical Errors

Medical errors remain as the fourth leading cause of accidental death in the United States.

Mistakes continue to occur at an alarming rate. People continue to die. We're aware of the problem, but we just don't seem to be making much progress. Why not?

"It's the System," responds Tim Autrey, Director of the Practicing Perfection Institute, Inc. "There are a multitude of factors involved in the system of medicine. Many professionals are working diligently to fix pieces of the System, and they're making progress. Unfortunately, characteristics of the System itself, with all of its inherent pressures (bureaucratic, financial, ethical, legal), make the wheels of progress grind very s-l-o-w-l-y. In the meantime, people are still being hurt and killed."

According to Autrey, a fresh approach with a new focus can rapidly slash the numbers of human errors occurring in medicine. The new focus? People.

Autrey calls it, "The HU Factor."

"Medical professionals are some of the most highly educated and dedicated workers on the planet," continues Autrey. "While we continue to work on the System, we need to direct acute focus on the behaviors of doctors and medical workers (in other words how they interact; how they do what they do). Coupling this focus with a few fundamental error prevention tools can cut errors dramatically in a very short period of time."

Autrey should know. Using this same philosophy, he recently orchestrated an 800% drop in human error at a commercial nuclear power facility. The strategies and tools involved with the HU Factor directly target such human interactions as communications and handoffs (turnovers), two of the critical arenas for errors in medicine.

The Practicing Perfection Institute will be unveiling a Special Report, "The HU Factor: A Fresh Approach to the Challenge of Human Error," in San Diego on March 20, 2006 at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 7th Annual International Summit on Redesigning the Clinical Office Practice.

For a free copy of the Special Report, send an email request to SpecialReport@PracticingPerfectionInstitute.com.

The Practicing Perfection Institute, Inc., founded in 2005, is rapidly becoming a core for error reduction worldwide. Its vision? "Error-free, world-wide- one life at a time." To obtain more information on the Institute, visit www.PracticingPerfectionInstitute.com.