A group of nurses is presenting the importance of high-quality care during a systemwide meeting of medical-surgical nurses. They point out a finding of the Quality Chasm that:

Question

a. being insured has little effect on a person's longevity and the quality of care received.
b. lobbyists for the drug companies are able to gain permission for the use of new drugs within 1 year of their discovery.
c. although a greater number of lawsuits stem from medication errors, more people actually die from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome (AIDS).
d. medication-related errors place a tremendous financial burden on the U.S. health care system.

Answer 1

ANS: D
Correct: Medication-related errors for hospitalized patients cost roughly $2 billion annually.
Incorrect:
a. Uninsured Americans exhibit consistently worse clinical outcomes than the insured, and they are at increased risk for dying prematurely.
b. The lag between the discovery of more effective forms of treatment and their incorporation into routine patient care averages 17 years.
c. Medical errors kill more people per year than breast cancer, AIDS, or motor vehicle accidents.