This edited collection of articles addresses aspects of medical
care in which human error is associated with unanticipated adverse
outcomes. For the purposes of this book, human error encompasses
mismanagement of medical care due to:
* inadequacies or ambiguity in the design of a medical device or
institutional setting for the delivery of medical care;
* inappropriate responses to antagonistic environmental conditions
such as crowding and excessive clutter in institutional settings,
extremes in weather, or lack of power and water in a home or field
setting;
* cognitive errors of omission and commission precipitated by
inadequate information and/or situational factors -- stress,
fatigue, excessive cognitive workload.
The first to address the subject of human error in medicine, this
book considers the topic from a problem oriented, systems
perspective; that is, human error is considered not as the source
of the problem, but as a flag indicating that a problem exists. The
focus is on the identification of the factors within the system in
which an error occurs that contribute to the problem of human
error. As those factors are identified, efforts to alleviate them
can be instituted and reduce the likelihood of error in medical
care.
Human error occurs in all aspects of human activity and can have
particularly grave consequences when it occurs in medicine. Nearly
everyone at some point in life will be the recipient of medical
care and has the possibility of experiencing the consequences of
medical error. The consideration of human error in medicine is
important because of the number of people that are affected, the
problems incurred by such error, and the societal impact of such
problems. The cost of those consequences to the individuals
involved in medical error, both in the health care providers'
concern and the patients' emotional and physical pain, the cost of
care to alleviate the consequences of the error, and the cost to
society in dollars and in lost personal contributions, mandates
consideration of ways to reduce the likelihood of human error in
medicine.
The chapters were written by leaders in a variety of fields,
including psychology, medicine, engineering, cognitive science,
human factors, gerontology, and nursing. Their experience was
gained through actual hands-on provision of medical care and/or
research into factors contributing to error in such care. Because
of the experience of the chapter authors, their systematic
consideration of the issues in this book affords the reader an
insightful, applied approach to human error in medicine -- an
approach fortified by academic discipline.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!