Taking a Patient Safety Cue from Denmark

Denmark’s patient compensation program has helped transform the approach to patient safety in the country, allowing patients a full picture of a potential medical error and prompting physicians to openly confront mistakes, according to an article by ProPublica.

Denmark’s approach to medical errors is drastically different from that of the United States. Instead of relying on malpractice claims to ferret out patient concerns, Denmark allows patients to file claims through a government-run system where a panel of medical experts reviews the patient’s case file and awards monetary damages if an error occurred.

Patients have full access to their medical records and researchers can use the data on medical errors to hone in on national trends and concerns.

Perhaps more importantly, the system allows physicians to speak openly and honestly about patient safety failures.

For more, read the ProPublica article.