Medical errors are one of the major causes of death. Errors are related to intelligence, and thus to decision-making ability. The error is always a human error; technical errors do not exist, not even where there are robots and artificial intelligence: in such cases errors occur either because of a lack of ordinary maintenance or because the abilities of the artificial intelligence have been either overrated or underestimated. The mistakes are not however always those of the medical or nursing staff. It may be that the error is the result of a series of organisational errors inherent to the system. The causes of errors can be mainly grouped into four categories related to: a) knowledge, b) the physical state of the person, c) the emotional state of the person, d) the organisation. It is really a difficult task to combat mistakes occurring in the medical field because there is a reluctance for errors to be reported where the organisation is such that a punitive approach will be adopted towards the person who has made the mistake. To get around this problem there is a need to reestablish a relationship of trust between the patient and the health service in question. The purpose of this paper is to answer these questions: i) waht are errors in medicine?, ii) why do persons and organization fail?; and iii) why is it difficult to combat errors in medicine?
On the nature of error in medicine
BACCARANI, Claudio;CASTELLANI, Paola
2008-01-01
Abstract
Medical errors are one of the major causes of death. Errors are related to intelligence, and thus to decision-making ability. The error is always a human error; technical errors do not exist, not even where there are robots and artificial intelligence: in such cases errors occur either because of a lack of ordinary maintenance or because the abilities of the artificial intelligence have been either overrated or underestimated. The mistakes are not however always those of the medical or nursing staff. It may be that the error is the result of a series of organisational errors inherent to the system. The causes of errors can be mainly grouped into four categories related to: a) knowledge, b) the physical state of the person, c) the emotional state of the person, d) the organisation. It is really a difficult task to combat mistakes occurring in the medical field because there is a reluctance for errors to be reported where the organisation is such that a punitive approach will be adopted towards the person who has made the mistake. To get around this problem there is a need to reestablish a relationship of trust between the patient and the health service in question. The purpose of this paper is to answer these questions: i) waht are errors in medicine?, ii) why do persons and organization fail?; and iii) why is it difficult to combat errors in medicine?
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