A report issued this week by DoctorQuality Inc., an Internet-based healthcare management company, reveals that clinical errors pose the same dangers to patients as medication mishaps. As part of their study, researchers with DoctorQuality analyzed information from a database of 50,000 reported errors and adverse events that have been submitted over the past 18 months by more than 100 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the United States.

According to the study's findings, clinical errors such as laboratory mistakes and delays in surgery contributed to almost one-third of all reported errors. Clinical care problems were also associated with five times more patient deaths than medication errors. DoctorQuality's findings were presented this week at the annual National Forum in Quality Improvement in Health Care in Orlando, Florida.