What is a High Reliability Organization? The work is highly technical and complex, operators require a high level of technical training and certification, and the consequences of error can be catastrophic. Hence, “it has to be done right every time.”

Laboratory testing is indispensable to patient care. Although it accounts for only 2% of U.S. healthcare expenditures, laboratory medicine is critical for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning and is the topic of ECRI Institute’s most recent safety study.

One-in-three patients in skilled nursing facilities suffered a medication error, infection or some other type of harm related to their treatment, according to a government report released today that underscores the widespread nature of the country’s patient harm problem.

An anesthetized patient fell to the floor headfirst from an operating room table during a laparoscopic appendectomy in Scotland. The table had been tilted into an extreme head down position to facilitate the operation. Fortunately, no injury occurred.

The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) has filed a lawsuit in New York’s Supreme Court, challenging a rule that requires health care workers to either get flu vaccinations or wear surgical masks during flu season.

Patients in healthcare facilities are in danger when they’re being moved or lifted because of institutional resistance to using available technology, according to a new report from an advocacy group. And patients aren't the only ones at risk of injury.