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Adverse effects of healthcare:
learn from mistakes to improve care

Identifying, describing and understanding healthcare-related errors allows lessons to be learned, in order to improve patient care.

An error is not a crime. It may result from poor judgment or lack of knowledge on the part of healthcare professionals, or from a breakdown in organisation or communication between healthcare professionals. It is the responsibility of healthcare professionals not only to do their job without making mistakes, but also to prevent errors and, when they do happen, to ensure they do not recur.

Therefore, professionals concerned with the quality of care should not conceal their errors, but rather analyse them; otherwise they will not be able to pinpoint the causes and these errors will be repeated.

Prescrire’s supplement "Eviter l'évitable" presents the different types of healthcare-related errors and their consequences, suggests error risk management strategies and proposes preventive actions. ©Prescrire December 2005

Source: "Eviter l’Evitable : tirer parti des erreurs pour mieux soigner" Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (267) : 881-945 (suppl.).

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