Speaking up to prevent medical errors.

摘要

The gravity of the study reported by Jill Van Den Bos and colleagues (Apr 2011) was highlighted by the Obama administration's new Partnership for Patients initiative to reduce medical errors by 40 percent.We would like to draw attention to possible ways to reduce errors and increase patient safety. Our recommendations come from a study released March 22 by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses; the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses; and VitalSmarts, an organizational development and research-based training company.Governing bodies and leaders have instituted many solutions over the past ten years to reduce alarming error rates. These safety tools are a necessary part of the formula for reducing avoidable errors. However, our research indicates that they are insufficient to produce substantial and sustainable improvement. The other necessary intervention is to address the prevalent culture of silence in most health care organizations.