SPOTLIGHT: Disclosure of medical errors

Physicians, surprise, are less likely than risk managers to admit the occurrence of a medical error, though doctors generally are quicker to apologize to patients after an error than are risk managers, according to a study in this month's Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. Both groups agree, however, that reporting mechanisms leave a lot to be desired. The story doesn't explicitly say so, but we'd be willing to venture that EMRs and IT in general could go a long way toward improving reporting of adverse events--and toward guarding against human error. News brief

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