Dora Mills interviewed by the ‘Portland Press Herald’ about medical errors
Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, vice president for Clinical Affairs and director for the Center for Excellence in Health Innovation at the University of New England, was interviewed by the Portland Press Herald about medical errors.
Recent studies show that medical errors such as infections are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Mills explained that better communication among providers such as nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists and doctors would help to prevent these sometimes fatal mistakes.
“We are all educated and trained separately,” Mills said. “It would be like training all of the second basemen separately from third basemen and the outfielders, and then getting them all together on opening day and saying, ‘Play ball!’ What would happen? They wouldn’t be very good.”
Mills is instrumental in implemting UNE's interprofessional education program, which trains students studying various health professions to work collaboratively as a team.