January 2004
Volume 11 • Number 1

Contents

Critical Success Factors for Controlling and Managing Hospital Errors
Kathleen L. McFadden, Elizabeth R. Towell, and Gregory N. Stock

Reducing medical errors is a crucial issue facing hospitals today. The Institute of Medicine’s (2000) report suggests that U.S. hospitals have “major system problems” in terms of the management and control of hospital errors. They estimate that medical errors are linked to more than one million injuries and about 98,000 deaths annually. In fact, medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, ahead of highway accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS. The Institute of Medicine estimated that the total national cost of these medical errors is around $37.6 billion per year (IOM 2000). Through the authors’ previous research efforts in the area of aviation safety and pilot error, as well as from the medical literature, they have identified seven potential factors critical to the success of reducing hospital errors. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a research framework for reducing hospital errors. The authors will also evaluate how hospitals currently manage hospital errors, attempt to identify other possible factors, and discover potential obstacles to the implementation of the factors. An in-depth multicase study of hospitals in Illinois is the methodology used to evaluate and test their framework. Prior operations literature has not investigated this specific topic in a comprehensive manner. Consequently, the results of this study will make a significant contribution in the area of operations safety. Moreover, the study will provide practical guidance for hospital administrators charged with the task of developing better systems to reduce medical errors. These initiatives could have major implications to patient safety in the future.

Key words: health care operations, medical errors, operations safety

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