This is generally true in any social group, not just hospitals...
The press covered the story, and the medical community realized that the same conditions that led to Mrs. McClinton’s death existed at other health facilities, putting additional patients at risk. As a result of the public accounting of the case, other hospitals changed their procedures, even before The Joint Commission added a National Patient Safety Goal related to labeling of medications on and off the sterile field in perioperative and procedural settings.
Such is the power of transparency in health care. Unfortunately, the transparency demonstrated in this case is an exception; transparency has been mostly overlooked as an effective patient safety tool. As members of the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute, we hope to promote the national discussion underway to change that fact.