Diagnostic errors are major contributors to harmful patient outcomes, yet they remain a relatively understudied and unmeasured area of patient safety. Although they are estimated to affect about 12 million Americans each year in ambulatory care settings alone, both the conceptual and pragmatic scientific foundation for their measurement is under-developed. Health care organizations do not have ...

Local governments like the City and County of San Francisco have shouldered the burden of toxic chemicals released into the environment through the substantial costs of health care, environmental cleanup, and infrastructure to purify drinking water, manage wastewater, and manage solid waste. Cities can no longer afford to wait for federal regulation to prevent toxic chemicals from appearing in ...

Injuries with used needles and other "sharps" put health care workers at risk for serious bloodborne infections, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C. To some extent, this risk can be lessened through safer techniques (such as not recapping needles) and safer devices (such as needleless and self-sheathing equipment). But these injuries occur within a context (often a hospital unit) with organizati...

Fledgling steps in the form of policy measures, surveillance mechanisms and safety initiatives have been taken in the Indian healthcare context to address the increasing evidence base of patient safety events. The paper examines whether structural and processual measures alone would contribute to safer care. The article posits that healthcare organisations in India need to look beyond the struc...

OBJECTIVES To (1) examine perceptions of risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), (2) examine perceived need for safer sexual behaviors, and (3) determine factors associated with less perceived need for safer sexual behaviors, all in the context of receiving the first HPV vaccination. DESIGN Cross-sectional baseline analysis from an ongoing longitud...

The potential for health information technology (IT) to improve health care delivery has been appreciated for decades, but "digitizing" health care can also introduce new risks and even harm. As the use of health IT has grown, these risks have become more apparent. The authors of this report evaluated the efforts of 11 hospitals and ambulatory practices to use an improvement strategy and tools ...