Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Case Reports
Clinical errors in emergency medicine: experience at the emergency department of an Italian teaching hospital.
The level of commitment in the analysis of clinical errors made in the emergency department (ED) is currently focused on organization and processes rather than on individual action. Four major cases of clinical errors made in the ED of a teaching hospital were investigated. ⋯ The authors have initiated a systematic analysis of errors made during the diagnostic workup in their ED, and the rate of clinically significant errors is tracked. A file is being created with the purpose to use it for teaching and orientation of all new staff.
-
An unacceptably high rate of medical error occurs in the emergency department (ED). Professional accountability requires that EDs be managed to systematically eliminate error. This requires advocacy and leadership at every level of the specialty and at each institution in order to be effective and sustainable. ⋯ Such efforts should be coupled to systematic analysis of errors that occur. Reliable reporting is likely only if the system is based within the specialty to help ensure proper analysis and decrease threat. Ultimate success will require dedicated effort, continued advocacy, and promotion of research.
-
The specialty-based study of incidents, adverse events, and errors in medicine has largely occurred in anesthesia and to a lesser extent in intensive care and psychiatry. Few studies have specifically addressed the problem in emergency medicine (EM). Because of the significant risks, the resulting adverse outcome, and the high degree of preventability of errors occurring in the emergency department (ED), it is essential that an incident monitoring system be part of the ED's risk management program. ⋯ This paper describes an existing incident monitoring system that has recently been adopted by six EDs in Australia. It was developed as a result of a similar successful program in anesthesia, and funded by the Federal Department of Health of Australia. Incorporating incident monitoring and analysis to identify causative factors of incidents and the subsequent implementation of corrective strategies as part of the ED risk management program may result in improvement in the quality of care through a reduction in the frequency of incidents.