Identifying common factors which contribute to error is critical to the development of viable solutions aimed at making health care safer. This should take account of fundamental flaws and design faults in the system as well as unusual and one-off events. Unfortunately, organizational responses to address these contributing factors have been slow to occur in health care.
In this training package, we have focused on five ways in which errors can be reduced. These are:
- standard operating procedures and guidelines;
- ensuring valid and up-to-date training;
- effective communication;
- medication safety; and
- patient engagement.