OBJECTIVE Propose a cognitive taxonomy of medical errors at the level of individuals and their interactions with technology. DESIGN Use cognitive theories of human error and human action to develop the theoretical foundations of the taxonomy, develop the structure of the taxonomy, populate the taxonomy with examples of medical error cases, identify cognitive mechanisms for each category of me...

Considering the complex nature of medical practice, however, and the multitude of interventions that each patient receives, a high error rate in medicine is perhaps not surprising. Health care professionals such as physicians, nurses, and pharmacists are trained to be careful and to function at a high level of efficiency. Notwithstanding, if a system is working at 99.9% efficiency, the 0.1% err...

Safety is a global concept that encompasses efficiency, security of care, reactivity of caregivers, and satisfaction of patients and relatives. Patient safety has emerged as a major target for healthcare improvement. Quality assurance is a complex task, and patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are more likely than other hospitalized patients to experience medical errors, due to the complex...

Error in medicine is a subject of continuing interest among physicians, patients, policymakers, and the general public. This article examines the issue of disclosure of medical errors in the context of emergency medicine. It reviews the concept of medical error; proposes the professional duty of truthfulness as a justification for error disclosure; examines barriers to error disclosure posed by...

The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation of medical incidents and errors among nurses with factors describing their lifestyle, health, and work environment. We analyzed questionnaires completed by 6,445 female hospital nurses engaged in shift work in Japanese hospitals with general wards of more than 200 beds. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk for medical inci...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between burnout and perceived major medical errors among American surgeons. BACKGROUND Despite efforts to improve patient safety, medical errors by physicians remain a common cause of morbidity and mortality. METHODS Members of the American College of Surgeons were sent an anonymous, cross-sectional survey in June 2008. The survey included self-assessm...

Background: Many manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals are rejected for reasons that include low‐quality of the manuscripts. Aim: The aim of this study is to identify and characterize the common errors in manuscripts submitted to medical journals based in Africa and Asia. Materials and Methods: Reviewers’ reports on 42 manuscripts were analyzed qualitatively using deductive coding, and q...