Law, M.E. (2011). An Empirical Investigation Into The Administrative Procedures Taken In Response To The Detection Of Medical Errors Within Acute Care Hospitals In Pennsylvania. American Journal Of Health Sciences, 2 (1). Retrieved from http://cluteonline.com/journals/index.php/AJHS/article/download/4364/4451.

“The ultimate goal of this study was to help providers of healthcare within Pennsylvania acute care hospitals find solutions to the ever-present problem of the occurrence of medical errors. Scholarly literature states that the majority of medical errors occur due to systems that breakdown and fail healthcare workers. This study sought to provide new knowledge in regard to where one particular system may be breaking down, specifically the error reporting system. The purpose of this study was twofold; 1) to develop two structured interview questionnaires, and 2) to conduct structured interviews as a means to collect data that focused on the occurrence of medical errors; specifically through assessing the error reporting systems within a sample of Pennsylvania acute care hospitals.

This researcher investigates the procedures taken by healthcare administrators within Pennsylvania acute care hospitals with respect to the detection of medical errors in order to provide corrective measures. In response to structured interview questions, the overwhelming majority of research participants stated that the procedures for corrective actions focused upon various training interventions as deemed appropriate by management. However, scholarly literature states that the majority of medical errors do not occur due to the lack of competence, skills, or knowledge of healthcare professionals. Thus, using training interventions to solve non-training problems may not prove effective. The outcome of the study has lead to several important implications for the healthcare industry.”