title: Testing a classification model for emergency department errors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper presents an evaluation of the Eindhoven Classification Model for categorizing healthcare errors.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The ability to decrease healthcare errors will depend on an understanding of the types and patterns of error that occur in various settings. Research addressing the systematic classification of error is in its infancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample for this study was two existing sets of healthcare error reports obtained from the emergency department of a regional trauma center. Study data were collected in the summer of 2001 and 2002. The errors in these reports were categorized using a coding tool based on the Eindhoven Classification Model. In addition to testing for inter-rater reliability, the classification model was also evaluated for the number of unclassifiable errors and of categories never selected by the raters (not useful to the error classification model).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our findings of poor inter-rater reliability, large numbers of unclassifiable errors and categories not selected, suggest that the Eindhoven Classification Model, in its current form, cannot be applied to categorizing healthcare errors in an emergency department setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further study is needed to develop and test error categorization models for use in emergency departments and other healthcare settings.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9304, USA. bethann953@aol.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Henneman
authors.forename: Fidela S J
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Blank
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gattasso
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Henneman
mesh_terms: D015984:Causality; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000145:classification*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results