E rrors pervade all health systems. Health care in the United States may cost more, have more resources, and be more customer friendly than that delivered by the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS), but the epidemiology of errors is probably much the same. 2 Even the French system, recently declared the ‘‘best’’ in the world, has during this summer’s soaring temperatures publicly faile...

Editorial The 1st World Health Organization (WHO) Global Patient Safety Challenge, " Clean Care is Safer Care " , was launched in October 2005. Since then, Prof Didier Pittet, the External Programme Lead reported that 131 WHO Member States and autonomous areas have pledged their support. As of May 2013, over 15,700 healthcare facilities with more than 9 million healthcare workers (HCWs), and mo...

Self-regulation by the health professions, while improving, is no longer enough; external drivers for safer health care include governments, funders and consumers. Enforced self-regulation is often more promising than a "command and control" strategy. Research evidence on the responsive regulatory pyramid and its options offers lessons for health care policy makers and managers. Start at the ba...