INTRODUCTION Patient safety is seldom assessed using objective evaluations during undergraduate medical education. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of fifth-year medical students using an objective structured clinical examination focused on patient safety after implementation of an interactive program based on adverse events recognition and disclosure. METHODS In 2007, a patient safety...

OBJECTIVES 1) To determine how and when emergency department (ED) patients and their families wish to learn of health care errors. 2) To assess the error threshold this population believes should trigger reporting to government agencies, state medical boards, and hospital patient safety committees. 3) To evaluate the role patients and families believe medical educators should play in this proce...

OBJECTIVE (i) To compare public perceptions of the frequency, responsibility, causes and solutions for preventable medical errors for persons who report and do not report having experienced a preventable medical error while receiving healthcare services in Alberta, Canada. (ii) To describe public opinion about confidentiality and disclosure of preventable medical error. (iii) To examine the rel...

T imely and explicit medical error disclosure is essential to maintain a strong bond of trust between physicians and their patients. Several surveys revealed that patients desire to be informed promptly of all medical errors (including the unintended minor ones) (1, 2), and furthermore, prefer to be debriefed in greater details than what most physicians think is needed (3). However, there is a ...

QUALITY PROBLEM OR ISSUE In 2005 we were informed about the possibility of a systemic error in pathology diagnoses of ~7400 histological tests done between 4 and 6 years earlier. INITIAL ASSESSMENT We determined to undertake a lookback and apply principles of open disclosure to inform the affected community of ~200,000 people. CHOICE OF SOLUTION The lookback included subjecting all cases to...

Medical errors are not a prevalent discussion topic in the current public health literature. However, their impact on patient lives across the world is alarming. In the United States alone, more than 1.3 million patients are harmed every year by medical treatments that are intended to help them. About three quarters of these adverse events are caused by preventable human error.1 These statistic...