Customer Reviews

Human Error in Medicine (Human Error and Safety)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book came out long before the Institute of Medicine Report, "To Err is Human", and in some ways it is better. It provides a great deal of background information essential to understanding this important but long-neglected problem. As a physician, it has completely changed my understanding of how errors occur in the profession of medicine. Although some chapters are difficult to read, I believe every physician and physician in training should read the forward, Chapter 13, "Operating at the Sharp End", and chapter 14,"Fatigue, Performance and Medical Error". When our hospital board asked me about the newspaper reports of error in medicine, I used the information in this book to explain the problem to them.

A comprehensive review of this book appears in the July-August 2006 issue of "Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology", Vol. 40, No. 4, p. 290. This is a reference that should be on the bookshelf of every department head and policy maker which is involved in the delivery of healthcare or its oversight.

This book is a great way to understand why we have a problem today in the health industry. Sue does a great job at breaking down the facts and giving us indisputable conclusions.