Patient Safety/Medical Errors

Gawande, a surgeon and MacArthur fellow, highlights medical and ethical dilemmas in this collection of 12 original and previously published essays adapted from the New England Journal of Medicine and the New Yorker.

Gawande, A. Complications. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2002.

Surgical resident and author Gawande explores the fallibility of doctors and the imprecision of medicine and technology as well as the humanity of the medical profession.

Gilbert, S.M. Wrongful Death. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.

After her husband’s untimely death following routine prostate surgery, Gilbert describes her experience with the hospital where the medical malpractice occurred and her legal journey.

Gibson, R. and Singh, J,P. Wall of  Silence. Washington, D.C., Lifeline Press, 2003.

Gibson and Singh recanting numerous stories of victims of medical malpractice and highlight the grave mistakes that occur daily in our health care system.

Groopman, J.  How Doctors Think.  New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

Groopman explores both how and why most doctors get health care practices right, and about how and why they sometimes get it wrong.

Hall, Lisa. Taking Charge of Your Own Health: Navigating Your Way Through Diagnosis, Treatment, Insurance, and More.  Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House Publishers, 2009.

Hall provides practical advice on how patients can empower themselves and manage the various elements of their health care. The book’s companion website- www.theproactivepatient.com– provides supplementary resources for patients.http://www.theproactivepatient.com/

Kenney, Charles. The Best Practice: How the New Quality Movement is Transforming Medicine. New York, PublicAffairs, 2008.

Kenney details the history of the modern patient safety movement and shows how safety leaders have brought about great improvements to health care delivery.

Kohn, L.T., Corrigan, J.M., and Donaldson, M.S. To Err is Human. Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 2000.

This report by the Institute of Medicine seriously examines problems in health care arena and proposes a national to reduce medical errors.

Lin, Della M. Rapid Response Teams, Second Edition. Marblehead, MA, HCPro, 2008.

This multimedia resource walks clinicians through the steps necessary to implement a successful rapid response team.

Roizen, M.F., and Oz, M.C. You: The Smart Patient: An Insider’s Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment.  New York, Free Press, 2006.

This is an indispensable handbook to help everyone to get the best health care possible.  A must have for anyone about to enter the hospital.

Shulkin, D. Questions Patients Need to Ask. Philadelphia, Xlibris, 2008.

The CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City collects questions that patients should ask their health care team in order to get safe care and be as informed as possible when in the hospital or in any health care setting.

Spath, P.L. Error Reduction In Health Care. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Spath examines the causes of medical errors and offers health care providers suggestions about how to reduce mistakes.

Svahn, D, Kozak, A. (Eds.), Let Me Listen To Your Heart. Cooperstown, New York, 2002.

This is a collection of writings by medical students who describe early lessons learned during their studies.

Wachter, R. and Shojania, K., Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America’s Terryifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes. Rugged Land, New York, 2005.

University of California San Francisco School of Medicine professors analyze case studies to emphasize how faulty systems- rather than individuals- are to blame for the epidemic of medical errors.

Wachter, R., Understanding Patient Safety. McGraw-Hill Professional, New York, 2007.

An excellent primer on the field of patient safety- principles, types of errors, case studies, key statistics, and solutions.