Becher E, Chassin M. Improving Quality, Minimizing Error: Making It Happen. Health Affairs. 2001;20(3):68-81.

Americans are harmed by medical errors each year. Systems must be created to anticipate human error before they cause harm. In order to overcome barriers, there must be a group effort of various organization and circumstances that must be overcome to reduce error and improve quality.

Carroll JS, Edmondson AC. Leading organizational learning in health care. Qual Saf Health Care. 2002;11:51-56.

Healthcare organizations are attempting enhance safety and quality. There is a need to find better ways of working together and improve existing skills. A shared vision will build effective relationships and strengthen the overall healthcare organizations.

Carthey J, Reason J, de Leval M, Wright D, Leggat A. Human Factors and Cardiac Surgery: Identifying Problems and Positive Aspects of Surgical Performance. Enhancing Patient Safety and Reducing Errors in Health Care. 1998;Nov:216-220.

Problems arise in cardiac surgery. A methodology was developed to study the different components of individual, team, and organizational factors that influence the outcomes of surgery. Each level is broken down to their "excellence producing factor" and their definitions.

Casarett D, Helms C. Systems Errors versus Physicians' Errors: Finding the Balance in Medical Education. Acad Med. 1999;74:19-22.

Medical errors are often viewed as systematic errors. This makes it less likely for a physician to change their behaviors and continue making mistakes. Programs must help discuss these areas of error and aid in making constructive changes in their behavior.

Epstein R. Mindful Practice. JAMA. 1999;282:833-839.

Mindfulness is a characteristic that aids a physician in the decisions that need to be made. There are different levels that stem from being mindful, all that are beneficial in treating patients. Mindfulness should be a characteristic of good clinical practice.

Halpern R, Lee M, Boulter P, Phillips R. A Synthesis of Nine Major Reports on Physicians' Competencies for the Emerging Practice Environment. Acad Med. 2001;76:606-615.

A review of reports concerning curricular reform. Changing views of practice leads to the need to address changes in medical school. The reports were grouped under ten domains. Reform is still a challenge, but would be beneficial to all schools.

Leape L. Error in Medicine. JAMA. 1994;272:1851-1857.

Error in medical school and residency are unacceptable, and is considered failure. Errors are considered either skill-based or rule-based/knowledge-based. Also known as "slips" or "mistakes." Offered are understandings of error in different settings and how they may prevented. The focus the realization of error and the necessity of implementing change.

Lester H, Tritter J. Medical error: a discussion of the medical construction of error and suggestions of reforms of medical education to decrease error. Medical Education. 2001;35:855-861.

This paper reviews medical error and the various aspects that surround it. It is perceived that medical error is tolerated by the medical profession. Changes and a more informed approach will aid doctors in dealing with and eventually committing less error.

Meyer G, Lewin D, Eisenberg J. To Err Is Preventable: Medical Errors and Academic Medicine. Am J Med. 2001;110:597-603.

Medical errors are a concern on the rise. There has been a push for action to reduce error and increase patient safety. Academic medicine can contribute significantly to reduce these errors and increase safety. Research questions were established for the Academic Medical Community and within the issues they were viewed in the short, medium, and long term.

Reason J. Human Error: models and management. BMJ. 2000;320:768-770.

Human error can be viewed in two ways, the person approach and the systems approach. The person approach focuses directly on the error of the individual and the systems approach focuses on the conditions that the individual works in. The goal is to recognize and recover failure.

Swing S, Bashook P. Toolbox of Assessment Methods. ACGME and ABMS. Version 1.1: 2000.

These are descriptions of assessment methods that may be used foe evaluating residents. A brief description of each method is offered. Ratings are shown for each method of evaluation for each of the six core competencies.

Building Organizational Supports for Change. Ch 5 In: Edington M, ed. Crossing the Quality Chasm. Washington D.C.: Nat'l Academy Press.: 2001: 119-154.

Health care organizations can go through 4 stages of development to redesign in order to improve quality of care. The stages offer key challenges in redesigning health care organizations. Broad areas discussed can be applicable to all health care organizations, and the specific tools need to be adapted to an organizations local environment.