ABSTRACT
The safety record for patients admitted into hospital in developed countries indicates that around one in ten suffer some form of adverse event (Kohn et al., 2000, deVries et al., 2008, Department of Health, 2006). It is estimated that around fifty percent of events are avoidable and not all result in lasting harm. However, such a safety record does not stand up to comparison with other industries such as commercial airlines or nuclear power, which have been described as ‘ultra-safe’ (Amalberti et al., 2005).
