Medical errors that receive widespread media attention frequently spur health systems to reexamine their own culture and practices to prevent similar errors. This commentary describes one health system’s effort to identify and improve the system factors (systems, processes, technology) involved in the error. The action plan proposed by this project includes ensuring a just culture so staff feel empowered to report errors and near-misses; regularly review and improve medication delivery systems; build resilient medication delivery systems; and, establish methods of investigations.

Medical errors may lead to feelings of distress for clinicians, but these errors can also be an opportunity for growth. This study used the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory to assess the extent, if any, of growth following a medical mishap. Rumination and the impact of the medical mishap were associated with distress among both physicians and nurses. The impact of the event was associated with growth in nurses, but no factor was associated with growth in physicians.

The criminal conviction of a nurse involved in a medical error has raised concerns about a possible negative impact on error disclosure. This article discusses the ethical and legal considerations related to this prosecution and the association with patient safety.

Daily huddles can improve team communication and awareness of safety incidents. This single-site study found that implementation of daily interdisciplinary huddles increased reporting of near-miss events and improved team satisfaction and perceived team communication, collaboration, and psychological safety.

Diagnostic error continues to be a significant safety problem. Using a multimethod approach, this study developed a checklist of ten high-priority practices for diagnostic excellence which healthcare organizations can implement to address diagnostic errors. Priority practices include promoting speaking up behaviors through a just culture and psychologically safe environment; patient and family engagement in identifying, understanding, and addressing diagnostic safety concerns; and using multidisciplinary perspectives (including human factors and informatics) to understand factors contributing to diagnostic safety events.

Shifting to a nonpunitive approach to adverse events can improve error reporting and the overall safety culture. This article describes findings from focus groups with nurses at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) regarding the perceived punitive nature of the hospital’s incident reporting system and outlines how those findings informed changes to the error review process. Lessons learned highlight the importance of who performs error follow-up, skills for navigating difficult conversations, transparency, and executive-level support. Five years after these program changes were implemented, 96% of nurses surveyed felt that the new process was nonpunitive.

A just culture in healthcare balances organizational and individual responsibility and accountability when medical errors occur. This qualitative study including five healthcare organizations in the Netherlands concluded that open communication and emotional responses are important components of just culture. Researchers also identified several challenges in fostering a just culture, including how individual accountability is addressed and how to combine transparency with patient and clinician privacy.

Underutilization of error reporting systems may be due to a variety of factors, including a culture of fear or blame. This systematic review identified three types of factors influencing trust in error reporting – organizational factors (e.g., management style, focus on safety instead of punitive measures, leadership walk-rounds, established incident reporting systems), team factors (e.g., clearly defined team roles, relationships among teammates), and experience (e.g., knowledge of incident reporting systems, minimizing fear of shame or blame).

There is a long-standing tension between health care regulation and just culture principles. This qualitative study explored the experiences of mental health professionals, managers and other healthcare organization staff, as well as inspectors, regarding the role of healthcare inspectors in enabling a just culture. Three themes emerged – (1) the role of the inspector as both a catalyst for learning and a potential barrier, (2) just culture involves relationships between different layers within and outside the organization, and (3) to enable just culture in which inspectors would strike a balance between organizational responsibility and timely regulatory intervention.

Harm resulting from patient safety incidents can be compounded if investigating responses ignore the human relationships involved. This article describes how compounded harm arises, and it recommends the use of a restorative practices. A restorative approach focuses on (1) who has been hurt and their needs, and who is responsible for addressing those needs, (2) how harms and relationships can be repaired, and avenues to prevent the incident from reoccurring.

Open disclosure and apology for errors is recommended in healthcare. In this study, 38 state medical boards responded to a survey regarding disclosure and apology practices after medical errors. Findings suggest that state medical boards have generally favorable views toward clinicians who disclose errors and apologize, and that these actions would not make the clinician a target for disciplinary action; respondents had less favorable views towards legislative initiatives regarding apologies and disclosure.

Diagnostic errors in radiology can result in treatment delays and contribute to patient harm. This article provides an overview of the common cognitive biases encountered in diagnostic radiology that can contribute to diagnostic error, and strategies to avoid these biases, such as the use of a cognitive bias mitigation strategy checklist, peer feedback, promoting a just culture, and technology approaches including artificial intelligence (AI).

Voluntary error reporting remains underutilized in many clinical settings despite its importance for organizational learning and improved patient safety. This pediatric health system implemented a new safety event management system (SEMS) aimed at increased usability, de-centralized event follow-up, and closed-loop communication. The new SEMS resulted in more event reporting and less staff time spent on each report.