title: Using medical-error reporting to drive patient safety efforts.
abstract: IMPROVING PATIENT SAFETY has become one of the driving forces in health care delivery. Honest, accurate disclosure of medical errors and close calls is crucial to gain a better grasp of problems, make effective changes, and evaluate progress. ALTHOUGH FEAR OF MALPRACTICE litigation remains a major deterrent to medical-error reporting, disclosure allows organizations to benefit from one another's experiences. Accountability necessitates mandatory reporting to external organizations, but a wide variety of reporting systems exist, each with its own advantages and shortcomings. National standardized reporting is a major objective for the patient safety movement. STAFF MEMBER INVESTMENT is a key factor in the safety process and needs to extend beyond the reporting procedure.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stow
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States