Medical Errors

Medical errors are unintended acts—either of omission (ie, not doing something that should have been done, such as not administering a needed medication) or commission (ie, doing something incorrect, such as administering the wrong medication)—that involve failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or use of a wrong plan to achieve an outcome.  Such errors are a leading cause of preventable injury and death in health care, occurring in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, and entail significant ethical and financial costs.  Modern patient safety science emphasizes a systems-based, nonpunitive approach to understanding and mitigating error, with a focus on improving reliability, transparency, and organizational learning.  This article provides a review of medical errors, including error definitions, contributing factors, and recommended strategies to prevent errors.