Environmental Context of Patient Safety and Medical Errors:Working paper

摘要

Interest in the issue of patient safety and medical errors has accelerated over the last decade, most recently culminating in widespread media attention and policy consideration by state and national levels of government, accrediting bodies, health care organizations, and employer groups. The purpose of this paper is to explore the environmental context of patient safety and medical errors with specific interest in rural settings. We review the patient safety/medical error literature, point out unique features of rural health care organizations and their environment that relate to the patient safety issue and medical errors, summarize relevant organizational theory, and conclude by discussing strategies for medical error reduction and prevention in rural health care settings.