A new study had found that out of all the months of the year, July is the worst month for fatal medical errors.
Researchers at the University Of California of San Diego have dubbed this discovery th" July Effect'. The study group looked at 62 million death certificates between the years 1979 and 2006 and discovered that there is a 10% increase in the number of medical errors in teaching hospitals in the month of July.
The study did not include deaths that occurred outside of hospitals or allergic reaction to drugs.
The reason for this increase in errors is due to hospitals bringing in the majority of their new medical residents at this time, according to the study. These new residents are more likely to make the fatal errors. Some of the main mistakes that can occur are the forgetting to pass on vital information to people coming on shift and the wrong placement of decimal points in prescriptions.
The results of this study are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.