Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2004
Abstract
Patient medical errors cause thousands of individual injuries and deaths each year. Avoidable medical errors occur every day, thus creating serious concern as to the safety, ethical and legal implications in healthcare delivery. A literature review of scholarly work indicates medical errors are underreported both at the institutional level and on the individual level. This paper attempts to explain why medical errors are underreported. It considers reporting practices from other industries that are applicable to the medical industry, the importance of reporting medical errors along with those incidents that have the potential to improve patient safety and patient quality of care, and the impact of regulatory factors on reporting. The paper concludes with a discussion and recommendations for further research to close the practice gap between what occurs and/or is observed and what is reported.
Keywords
medical errors
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Gibson, Anna H., "Health Alert: Underreported Medical Errors" (2004). Student Scholarship. 232.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/232
