The Emotional Impact of Medical Errors on Practicing Physicians in the United States and Canada
The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient SafetyPublished 1 August 2007
Amy D. Waterman, Jane Garbutt, Erik Hazel, William Claiborne Dunagan, Wendy Levinson, Victoria J. Fraser
Citations478
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SJR score0.98
SNIP1.04
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TL;DR
Physicians' job-related stress increased when they had been involved with a serious error, however, one third of physicians only involved with near misses also reported increased stress.
Abstract
Many physicians experience significant emotional distress and job-related stress following serious errors and near misses. Organizational resources to support physicians after errors should be improved.
Keywords
Health Professions
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