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edited by Barbara J. Youngberg and Martin J. Hatlie, 779 pp, $99.95, ISBN 0-7637-3147-1, Sudbury, Mass, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2004.

JAMA. 2004;291:3015.

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

Truly a compendium on medical accident, The Patient Safety Handbook touches on nearly every appropriate facet of accident, error, patient harm, organizational culture, ethics, accountability, safety, industrial hygiene, and legality. Perhaps it is too inclusive.

Taking its theme and direction from the notable 1999 Institute of Medicine Report To Err Is Human: Building a Safe Health Care System, the many authors of the 49 chapters explore the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders—even patients—in US health care.

Many of the chapters mention and reflect understanding of accident theory as it is expressed by James Reason and Charles Vincent in England and by Charles Perrow. Perrow is cited for his views on the complexity of accident coming from his study of the Three Mile Island nuclear failure. Reason is cited in several chapters for his views on systemic organizational failure as a common prelude to active error. Vincent in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Sanford E. Feldman, MD, Reviewer
UCSF–Mount Zion Medical Center
University of California-San Francisco
sefmd@itsa.ucsf.edu

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