Advancing Patient Safety in U.S. Hospitals: Basic Strategies for Success

“To err is human” is often cited as the title of the 1999 landmark report from the Institute of Medicine that drew national attention to the magnitude of medical errors and their adverse effect on patient outcomes. The troubling statistics included in the report have been frequently mentioned in health and lay literature and illuminated the issue of patient safety for the American public. The fact that an alarming number of medical errors cause harm to patients is now widely known. However, the full title of the report is, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, and it is the second portion of the title that often goes unmentioned. While the report of past errors was startling, knowledge of the numbers alone does not carry with it any appreciable benefit to future patients; the numbers are only of value if they can be used to effectively guide the development of necessary system improvements.