Medical errors are on-going concerns due to their relationship with patient safety. To heighten patient safety and medical errors concerns in the American health care community, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the report on entitled "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. This report discusses two types of preventable events: serious events and less serious events. The type of errors addressed by this research group, inadequately prepared thickened liquids, is consider less serious events. Thus, the researchers sought out error-reduction strategies in terms of fluid preparation errors related to patients on swallowing disorders or dysphagia diets. Speech pathologists are the lead allied health care professionals in terms of swallowing disorders. They diagnose the nature of swallowing disorders and recommend diet texture modifications to the attending physician. The registered dietitian and the foodservice staff are responsible for administering the diet orders and ensuring the appropriate fluid viscosity is prepared for patients on a dysphagia diet. Regulatory and accrediting bodies monitor how successfully the foodservice units accomplish their responsibilities to patients.
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