According to a new study released this week by the US Pharmacopeia (USP), a national standards-setting organization, hospitals are not only reporting more medical errors but are still making the same patient mistakes. The report, released Monday, reveals that in 1999 as well as in 2000, 3 percent of all hospital errors resulted in either patient harm or death. The top three mistakes involved hospital staff failing to administer a required drug or patients receiving the wrong dose or type of medication.

Health officials said they are concerned there were no improvements between 1999 and 2000 but still insisted changes are being made. According to a spokesperson for the American Hospital Association, only a small percentage of hospitals were represented by the report, which may explain the similarities in the data for 1999 and 2000.