Many industry observers believe that electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) is one of the key steps for reaching our president’s 2004 goal of “most Americans having an electronic health record within the next decade.”

For the past three decades, cost containment, control, efficiency, and reduction efforts have remained at the forefront of healthcare policy, overshadowing innovation, quality, and safety concerns.

Can you imagine the chairs of a patient safety conference in the U.S. including a quote from Marcel Proust in the introduction to the published proceedings? Probably not,…

I dreamed of being an engineer when I was growing up, but algebra and calculus were not my cup of tea, so I pursued a career in politics and public relations.

Over the past few years, hospital organizations have increasingly looked to new technology solutions to improve patient safety. Barcode technology is an especially promising approach in the effort to reduce medical errors.

Not all medication errors are created equal. In efforts to improve patient safety, healthcare systems need to give first priority to averting the medication errors with the greatest potential for harm.

For several months in late 2001, The Johns Hopkins Hospital unknowingly used a defective bronchoscope that resulted in 2 deaths and 400 injuries.

In the past, use of monopolar electrosurgery in open surgical procedures involved the risk of external skin injury due to an alternate return path or compromised return electrode.

The current medical malpractice environment does little if anything to encourage quality care and enhance safety, and tort reform, as espoused by government leaders, insurance company executives, and some physicians,…

Medical education has traditionally relied on training with real patients in actual clinical settings. While hands-on, experiential learning is indispensable, medical educators are increasingly concerned about, and committed to, the safety of patients.