title: Knowledge is power: studying critical incidents in intensive care.
abstract: Despite their difficult definition and taxonomy, it is imperative to study critical incidents in intensive care, since they may be followed by adverse events and compromised patient safety. Identifying recurring patterns and factors contributing to critical incidents constitutes a prerequisite for developing effective preventive strategies. Self-reporting methodology, although widely used for studying critical incidents, has been criticized in terms of reliability and may considerably underestimate both overall frequency and specific types of them. Promotion of non-blaming culture, analysis of critical incident reports and development of clinical recommendations are expected to minimize critical incidents in the future.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, Highest Technological Educational Institute of Patras, 1 M, Alexandrou Str,, Patras, 263-34, Greece. kiekkpan@otenet.gr
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kiekkas
authors.forename: Diamanto
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aretha
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stefanopoulos
authors.forename: George I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Baltopoulos
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012308:Risk Management