Risk-management in health care systems: Lessons from the nuclear industry

Abstract

Health care delivery today entails complicated technology and numerous interactions among health care practitioners. Adverse events can occur anywhere within the health care system. Although some accidents are caused by technical and mechanical problems, most are attributable to human error and health care system failures. In most industrial accidents, human and system errors are rooted in organizational factors; the same appears to hold true in the health care industry. Therefore, health care systems could greatly benefit from the lessons of safety and risk-management other industries provide. We present a model to analyze accidents, based upon traditional human factor methodologies used in the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and adapted to Quebec's health care system.