The bell curve.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

The bell curve.

March 6, 2005

Gawande A. New Yorker. Dec 6, 2004.

View more articles from the same authors.

A sensitive portrayal of the challenges in defining quality and implementing change even when practitioners are committed to high-quality care.

Free full text

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Overkill: An avalanche of unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially. What can we do about it?

May 20, 2015

Why doctors hate their computers.

November 14, 2018

Personal best.

October 5, 2011

The malpractice mess.

December 7, 2005

The checklist.

December 12, 2007

When doctors make mistakes.

March 6, 2005

Failure and rescue.

July 11, 2012

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance.

April 11, 2007

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.

January 13, 2010

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science.

March 27, 2005

What's the trouble? How doctors think.

February 7, 2007

The plague year. The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy.

January 13, 2021

Implementing a Program of Patient Safety in Small Rural Hospitals.

January 16, 2008

The Patient's Guide to Preventing Medical Errors.

August 24, 2005

World Alliance for Patient Safety: forward programme.

March 6, 2005

Achieving Safe and Reliable Healthcare: Strategies and Solutions.

March 6, 2005

Bearing the Burden: Black Mothers in America.

May 26, 2021

The Patients' View: 2004 ISQSH National Survey.

January 4, 2006

Unity of Mistakes: A Phenomenological Interpretation of Medical Work.

March 6, 2005

Using the web or an app instead of seeing a doctor? Caution is advised.

July 20, 2016

Your new medical team: algorithms and physicians.

December 16, 2015

Why doesn't medical care get better when doctors rest more?

September 4, 2013

Do some surgical implants do more harm than good?

April 29, 2020

Scant oversight of drug maker in fatal meningitis outbreak.

October 17, 2012

Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses.

May 11, 2005

The Commonwealth Fund Quality Improvement Colloquium: Patient Safety Five Years After To Err Is Human.

March 27, 2005

The growing role of the Patient Safety Officer: implications for risk managers.

March 6, 2005

Escape Fire: Designs for the Future of Health Care.

March 6, 2005

Loud wake-up call: unlabeled containers lead to patient’s death.

March 27, 2005

Strategies for Hospitals to Improve Patient Safety: A Review of the Literature.

March 6, 2005

COVID-19 exposes potential gaps in PPE training, effectiveness.

April 22, 2020

Handoffs and fumbles.

March 27, 2005

Accountability: Patient Safety and Policy Reform.

March 6, 2005

How Professionals Make Decisions.

May 4, 2005

Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care.

March 9, 2016

Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It.

February 6, 2019

The coronavirus pandemic’s wider health-care crisis.

July 15, 2020

Recommendations for Safe Use of Insulin in Hospitals.

February 8, 2006

Surgical Patient Safety Essential Information for Surgeons in Today's Environment.

August 24, 2005

State Patient Safety Centers: A New Approach to Promote Patient Safety.

March 27, 2005

Improving the Reliability of Health Care.

February 8, 2006

VA Patient Safety Program: A Cultural Perspective at Four Medical Facilities.

January 4, 2006

Maximize Patient Safety with Advanced Root Cause Analysis.

March 27, 2005

National Survey on Consumers' Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information.

March 6, 2005

Systems Analysis of Critical Incidents: the London Protocol.

December 19, 2007

Preventing medication errors at small and rural hospitals.

May 20, 2020

Learning how to learn: compliance with patient safety alerts in the NHS.

August 3, 2005

Patient Safety: Achieving a New Standard for Care.

March 6, 2005

Operating at the sharp end: the complexity of human error.

March 6, 2005

Mistaking error.

March 27, 2005

Why doctors still offer treatments that may not help.

September 4, 2019

Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail can Teach us to Thrive.

October 18, 2023

Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion.

March 6, 2005

Four patients say Cedars-Sinai did not tell them they had received a radiation overdose.

October 28, 2009

Feud between Cedars-Sinai and surgeon puts focus on patient safety.

April 21, 2010

When doctors don't talk to doctors.

July 1, 2015

Patient safety law protects some documents in court case.

September 12, 2012

The short life and lonely death of Sabrina Seelig.

August 15, 2012

Massachusetts hospitals launch patient apology program.

May 30, 2012

Hand hygiene compliance for patient safety.

October 22, 2014

Anticoagulant safety practices call for pharmacist supervision.

December 3, 2008

Hospital bracelets face hurdles as they fix hazard.

October 8, 2008

100K Lives falling short.

March 29, 2006

Safety in numbers.

November 1, 2006

Going to the hospital? Don't forget to pack a nurse.

October 5, 2005

Teams quicken response in medical emergencies.

August 3, 2005

Walk inside, have surgery. But is it safe?

June 29, 2005

Patient Safety: Achieving a New Standard of Care.

December 21, 2005

The impact of critical incidents on nurses and midwives: a systematic review.

February 10, 2021

The doctor doesn't listen to her. But the media is starting to.

August 22, 2018

How hospital design saves lives.

August 30, 2006

Do no harm: hospital care in Las Vegas.

July 14, 2010

Make safety a priority: create and maintain a culture of safety.

March 22, 2006

Managing the aftermath of iatrogenic injury.

September 28, 2005

Stopping deaths from incorrect drug doses.

April 2, 2008

Medical malpractice: the fear factor.

September 29, 2010

Doctors make mistakes. A new documentary explores what happens when they do—and how to fix it.

February 6, 2019

Will false diagnosis cost Minnesota girl her life?

January 18, 2012

New mother number 14.

March 20, 2019

Nursing homes cited 1,000 times for medication errors.

August 27, 2014

Hospitals save money, but safety is questioned.

January 4, 2006

Reused devices, surgery's deadly suspects.

January 18, 2006

Hospital R.Ph.s weigh in on new JCAHO patient safety goals.

July 27, 2005

'America's other drug problem': copious prescriptions for hospitalized elderly.

September 14, 2016

Electronic medical records may boost patient safety.

July 31, 2013

Hospital mistakes kept secret.

November 30, 2011

The Impact of Light on Outcomes in Healthcare Settings.

September 20, 2006

Saving lives: hospitals have signed on to a six-part plan to avoid a multitude of unnecessary deaths.

July 13, 2005

Hospital-error oversight called lax: state takes too long to investigate mistakes, patient advocates say.

May 18, 2005

California doctors alarmed as state links their opioid prescriptions to deaths.

February 6, 2019

Regulating compensation for injuries associated with medical error.

September 13, 2006

Nurses say stress interferes with caring for their patients.

April 27, 2016

Why even radiologists can miss a gorilla hiding in plain sight.

February 20, 2013

Deny, Dismiss, Dehumanise: What Happened When I Went to Hospital.

May 1, 2019

Challenges ahead in technology training: a report on the training initiative of the Committee on Technology.

October 11, 2006

The Definition of Quality and Approaches to Its Assessment. Vol 1. Explorations in Quality Assessment and Monitoring.

March 27, 2005

How one health system overcame resistance to a surgical checklist.

May 29, 2019

At Bellevue, a desperate fight to ensure the patients' safety.

November 14, 2012

At surgery clinic, rush to save Joan Rivers's life.

September 24, 2014

The optimal use of telehealth to deliver safe patient care.

October 21, 2020

Related Resources

Annual Perspective

Equity in Patient Safety

March 27, 2024

Perspectives on Safety

Beyond the Pandemic: Creating Total Systems Safety

August 30, 2023

Perspectives on Safety

Interview

In Conversation with... Patricia McGaffigan about Beyond the Pandemic: Creating Total Systems Safety

August 30, 2023

Patient Safety Innovations

Remote Response Team and Customized Alert Settings Help Improve Management of Sepsis

May 31, 2023

Annual Perspective

Improving Diagnostic Safety and Quality

April 26, 2023

The plague year. The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy.

January 13, 2021

Racism as a Root Cause approach: a new framework.

January 1, 2021

Second opinions improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs.

June 24, 2020

How Veterans Affairs failed to stop a pathologist who misdiagnosed 3,000 cases.

September 11, 2019

Lessons learned from a death outside a hospital's doorstep.

June 26, 2019

Doctors make mistakes. A new documentary explores what happens when they do—and how to fix it.

February 6, 2019

Heartbroken.

December 12, 2018

My human doctor.

October 17, 2018

CVS taps a design legend to reinvent the prescription label. Next stop: the pharmacy.

October 18, 2017

Extent of diagnostic agreement among medical referrals.

April 12, 2017

Wounded care: failure at one Indian Health Service hospital reveals a system in crisis.

December 14, 2016

When doctors get the wrong patient.

October 5, 2016

Overuse of medical imaging and its radiation exposure: who’s minding our children?

September 28, 2016

Pathologists, patients and diagnostic errors—part 1 and part 2.

August 10, 2016

Hospitals that mess up are urged to confess.

June 22, 2016

Surgeons must tell patients of double-booked surgeries, new guidelines say.

April 27, 2016

When a surgeon should just say 'I'm sorry'.

April 6, 2016

Hospitals find a way to say, 'I'm sorry.'

February 17, 2016

Why it's so easy for doctors to misdiagnose kids.

December 2, 2015

Hospitals slow to adopt patient apology policies.

September 2, 2015

You can't understand something you hide: transparency as a path to improve patient safety.

July 8, 2015

The overlooked danger of delirium in hospitals.

June 24, 2015

Time to tackle diagnostic errors. Physicians blame patient 'treadmill' for missed calls.

April 1, 2015

Why empathy may be the best risk management strategy.

March 11, 2015

Living with cancer: not talking about medical mistakes.

November 12, 2014

See More About The Topic

Children's Hospitals

Health Care Providers

Non-Health Care Professionals

Patients

Error Reporting and Analysis

The bell curve.

Remote Response Team and Customized Alert Settings Help Improve Management of Sepsis

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The bell curve.

Remote Response Team and Customized Alert Settings Help Improve Management of Sepsis

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site