December 10, 2010 – The 5th annual list of the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2011 is now available. The list, from the ECRI Institute, features the top health technology hazards that warrant critical attention by hospitals and other healthcare organizations.
The 2011 list, originally published in ECRI Institute’s Health Devices journal, offers information about how these hazards occur, with recommendations for prevention and a comprehensive resource list for more in-depth information. ??
The top five hazards are:
1. Radiation overdose and other dose errors during radiation therapy?
2. Alarm hazards?
3. Cross-contamination from flexible endoscopes?
4. The high radiation dose of CT scans?
5. Data loss, system incompatibilities, and other health IT complications
6. Luer misconnections
7. Oversedation using patient-controlled analgesic (PCA) infusion pumps
8. Needlesticks and other sharps injuries
9. Surgical fires
10. Defibrillator failures in emergency resuscitation attempts
“From dose errors during radiation therapy, to critical patient alarms that are set incorrectly, inappropriately silenced, or ignored, each of the problems on our list can be prevented or made less likely to occur if recommendations for effective risk-mitigation strategies are employed,” said James P. Keller, vice president of health technology and safety for ECRI.
Healthcare professionals can obtain the complete 2011 list and its recommendations at no cost by using the following link:
https://www.ecri.org/Forms/Pages/2011_Top_10_Technology_Hazards.aspx
For more information: www.ecri.org
March 12, 2026 
