ABSTRACT
Past.experiences.indicate.that.the.effectiveness.of.many.decisions.concerning.human. error. in.health. care.depends.on. the. availability. and.quality.of. error.data.. It. simply.means.that.careful.attention.must.be.given.when.collecting.and.analyzing.such. data;.otherwise. these.decisions.may. lead. to.costly.problems..There.are.a.number. of.human.error.reporting.systems.in.use.to.collect.health.care.human.error-related. data.1-3.Some.examples.of.the.data,.directly.or.indirectly,.collected.through.such.systems.are.medication-related.incident.rates.and.negligence.rates.for.various.clinical. specialty.groups.3-5
Mathematical. models. are. frequently. used. in. scientific. fields. to. study. various. types.of.physical.phenomena..Over.the.years.a.large.number.of.mathematical.models. have.been.developed.to.study.various.aspects.of.human.reliability.and.error.in.engineering.systems.6.Some.of.these.models.can.also.be.used.in.the.area.of.health.care. to.study.human.reliability.and.error-related.problems.
