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Biomedical subjects

Ronald L Sirota

Publications and source records attributed to Ronald L Sirota.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Defining error in anatomic pathology.

CONTEXT: Although much has been said and written about medical error and about error in pathology since the publication of the Institute of Medicine's report on medical error in 1999, precise definitions of what constitutes error in anatomic pathology do not exist for the specialty. Without better definitions, it is impossible to accurately judge errors in pathology. The lack of standardized definitions has implications for patient care and for the legal judgment of malpractice. OBJECTIVES: To review the goals of anatomic pathology, to discuss the problems inherent in applying these goals to the judgment of error in pathology, to offer definitions of major and minor errors in pathology, and to discuss error in anatomic pathology in relation to the classic laboratory test cycle. DATA SOURCES: Existing literature. CONCLUSION: Definitions for major and minor error in anatomic pathology are proffered, and anatomic pathology error is characterized in the classic test cycle.

Diagnostic Errors↗
PubMed2005

Error and error reduction in pathology.

CONTEXT: Since publication of the Institute of Medicine's report on medical error in late 1999, there has been widespread interest in improving patient safety and in error reduction in all disciplines of medicine. In fields other than medicine, considerable knowledge has been obtained concerning error and error reduction. This body of knowledge can be successfully applied to pathology in order to make the specialty safer and less error prone. OBJECTIVES: To review the fundamental conclusions of the Institute of Medicine's report on medical error, to provide a taxonomy of error that can be adapted to pathology, to provide a framework for studying and analyzing error in pathology, to contrast different approaches to error, and to explain the concept of a culture of safety. DESIGN: Review of pertinent literature, analysis of concepts of error reduction and safety used in other disciplines, analysis of pathology workflow, and adaptation of safety practices to the practice of pathology. RESULTS: A taxonomy for error is described and adapted to pathology, a framework for error in the specialty is described, and characteristics of a culture of safety for pathology are proposed. CONCLUSIONS: Fundamental concepts of error reduction and safety improvement exist in other disciplines and can successfully be adapted to pathology.

Diagnostic Errors↗
PubMed2004

Identification errors in pathology and laboratory medicine.

Identification errors involve misidentification of a patient or a specimen. Either has the potential to cause patients harm. Identification errors can occur during any part of the test cycle; however, most occur in the preanalytic phase. Patient identification errors in transfusion medicine occur in 0.05% of specimens; for general laboratory specimens the rate is much higher, around 1%. Anatomic pathology, which involves multiple specimen transfers and hand-offs, may have the highest identification error rate. Certain unavoidable cognitive failures lead to identification errors. Technology, ranging from bar-coded specimen labels to radio frequency identification tags, can be incorporated into protective systems that have the potential to detect and correct human error and reduce the frequency with which patients and specimens are misidentified.

Humans↗