The One Dozen Most Important Things You May Not Have Known, Understood, or Realized About American Medicine
Safety and Errors - Overview
Following a landmark 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, increasing attention has focused on patient safety and medical errors. Steps have been taken to eliminate or minimize errors, and all policies and protocols aimed at ensuring patient safety must be followed carefully. Nevertheless, occasional errors or unanticipated bad outcomes will occur. In these situations, immediate identification, proper documentation, and full reporting to the appropriate people (attending physicians, hospital administrators, patient, family, etc.) is crucial. Under no circumstances may any entry or component of the patient medical record be deleted or altered, except by appropriately documented addendum.