title: The environmental context of patient safety and medical errors.
abstract: The environmental context of patient safety and medical errors was explored with specific interest in rural settings. Special attention was paid to unique features of rural: healthcare organizations and their environment that relate to the patient safety issue and medical errors (including the distribution of patients, types of adverse events associated with learning, information flows, triage and transfer decisions, and culture of safety). Relevant organizational theories and strategies fo medical error reduction and prevention in rural health care settings were identified. Financial and technical assistance are needed to support the systematic collection of data from rural hospitals and other entities and to enhance relevant patient safety practices for rural America.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn 55455, USA. whole001@umn.edu
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wholey
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moscovice
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hietpas
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holtzman
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012423:Rural Health; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology