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"ONE ... Is a NUMBER!"
Learn Patient Safety Statistics Here
Easy to Find, Easy to Read, Easy to Understand
One day, a hospital administrator said to me "if you can't show how educating patients saves lives, it will never be funded or supported".
I responded with... "if it was your child, we could have saved, isn't one a number?" ---Ilene Corina, Founder, One is a Number
"One is a Number" compiles easily accessible patient safety facts in a single location. When someone you care about is affected, even a single preventable death or injury is one too many – that's how we quantify medical errors.
In 2016, Johns Hopkins patient safety experts estimated over 250,000 annual deaths in the U.S. resulted from medical errors. But beyond statistics, each individual matters, making every life count. This platform aims to provide insights into patient safety and medical error studies, acknowledging that each figure represents a person who entrusted their well-being to the healthcare system. While some studies might seem outdated due to infrequency, we strive to keep up with the latest research and reports.​​
2019 figures from the National Institute of Health:
Medical errors are a leading cause of patient morbidity and mortality. Recent mortality analysis in the United States ranked medical errors as the third major cause of death, following heart disease and cancer, which were ranked on the first and second place, respectively. Read more here
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2023 World Health Organization Around 1 in every 10 patients is harmed in health care and more than 3 million deaths occur annually due to unsafe care. In low-to-middle income countries, as many as 4 in 100 people die from unsafe care. Read more here
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How does the quality of the U.S. health system compare to other countries?
Despite spending more money per capita on healthcare than any similarly large and wealthy nation, the United States has a lower life expectancy than peer nations and has seen worsening health outcomes since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more here
The Starfish Story
By Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he did his work.
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One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
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As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
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"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
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Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
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At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
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