Patient safety / by Charles Vincent.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Medical harm: a brief history 1 2. The evolution of patient safety 13 3. Studies of errors and adverse events in healthcare: the nature and scale of the problem 33 4. Reporting and learning systems 57 5. Human error and systems thinking 75 6. Understanding how things go wrong 99 7. The aftermath: caring for patients harmed by treatment 123 8. Supporting staff after serious incidents 139 9. Culture and leadership for safety 153 10. Making healthcare safer: clinical interventions and process improvement 179 11. Using information technology to reduce error 195 12. People create safety 213