title: Patient safety: improving incident reporting.
abstract: The aim of this article, the fourth of seven in this series, is to discuss the reporting of patient safety incidents, including near miss events. This article is based on step four of the National Patient Safety Agency's (2004) Seven Steps to Patient Safety. Barriers to reporting are discussed and the associated benefits and limitations are highlighted.
authors.affiliation: School of Health, The University of Northampton, Northampton. david.bird@northampton.ac.uk
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013222:State Medicine