Medical Error Prevention Based on Path Integration System Approach

Recent findings show that medical errors are prevalent and lead to many unnecessary iatrogenic deaths and injuries. Medical error studies using different approaches such as person approach or system approach enable clinicians to have a better understanding and valuable insight into error prevention through employing guidelines, standardized procedures, and devices, etc. A novel approach is proposed, known as the Path Integration System Approach (PISA), based on information technology (IT), in the design of health systems processes to reduce adverse events. Unlike the person approach or the system approach, which basically addresses error-prone procedures and situations by building more error barriers or changing human behaviour, PISA is concerned with re-constructing the medical procedure paths and system operations to lower the association between clinical staff and medical errors, through the judicious deployment of Information and Communication Technology. It is shown that PISA has the potential to achieve medical error reduction in excess of 70%. Examples and guidelines are given to illustrate the application of the approach. The paper proposes an integrated approach which transforms the effective deployment of IT systems to focus on integration and communication between subsystems. Through the adoption of PISA, such integration maybe achieved to the benefit of different groups of stakeholders in medical error prevention.