Prevention of Medical Errors

Course overview

The identification and prevention of medical errors require the participation of all members of the health team, including patients. The traditional way of coping with medical errors was to assume errors were the result of individual mistakes such as carelessness and inattention, creating a culture of blame. However, it has become clear this approach is not optimal. It does not address the root causes of medical errors, and system problems, it discourages disclosure of errors, and without disclosure, errors cannot be prevented. Enhancing health team knowledge and the environment of care will help to reduce the risk of a medical error and provide health care professionals with an overview of the problem of medical errors, factors contributing to the occurrence of these errors, and steps that can be taken by institutions and individual care providers to reduce medical errors in key care settings.