This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Patient Safety/ Medical Error  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Dr Layde and colleagues¹ argued that patient safety could be improved by adopting an injury prevention model, while Dr McNutt and colleagues² argued that this would be better addressed by the theory of constraints. I have questions about how both groups of authors interpreted some of the patient safety literature.

McNutt et al stated that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on medical error "may lead to taking aim at isolated injuries rather than error."³ They went on to state that "the IOM definitions may not be helpful because failed decisions or processes have deep rooted causes." My understanding of the IOM report and its definitions does not lead me to the same conclusions. For example, the IOM clearly defined and elaborated upon the concept of system error and latent error, which I assume is similar to the term "deep rooted causes" that McNutt et al use. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

Patient Safety Efforts Should Focus on Medical Injuries
Peter M. Layde, Leslie A. Maas, Stephen P. Teret, Karen J. Brasel, Evelyn M. Kuhn, James A. Mercy, and Stephen W. Hargarten
JAMA. 2002;287(15):1993-1997.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Patient Safety Efforts Should Focus on Medical Errors
Robert A. McNutt, Richard Abrams, David C. Aron, and for the Patient Safety Committee
JAMA. 2002;287(15):1997-2001.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT