Medical Errors

"Medical Errors" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus, MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure, which enables searching at various levels of specificity.

MeSH information

Definition | Details | More General Concepts | Related Concepts | More Specific Concepts

Errors or mistakes committed by health professionals which result in harm to the patient. They include errors in diagnosis (DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS), errors in the administration of drugs and other medications (MEDICATION ERRORS), errors in the performance of surgical procedures, in the use of other types of therapy, in the use of equipment, and in the interpretation of laboratory findings. Medical errors are differentiated from MALPRACTICE in that the former are regarded as honest mistakes or accidents while the latter is the result of negligence, reprehensible ignorance, or criminal intent.

Descriptor ID	D019300
MeSH Number(s)	N02.421.450
Concept/Terms	Medical Errors Medical Errors Medical Mistakes Mistake, Medical Mistakes, Medical Errors, Medical Error, Medical Medical Error Medical Mistake Wrong-Procedure Errors Wrong-Procedure Errors Error, Wrong-Procedure Errors, Wrong-Procedure Wrong Procedure Errors Wrong-Procedure Error Medical Errors of Omission Medical Errors of Omission Omission Medical Error Omission Medical Errors Medical Error of Omission Wrong-Site Surgery Wrong-Site Surgery Surgeries, Wrong-Site Surgery, Wrong-Site Wrong Site Surgery Wrong-Site Surgeries Surgical Errors Surgical Errors Errors, Surgical Error, Surgical Surgical Error Critical Medical Incidents Critical Medical Incidents Critical Medical Incident Incident, Critical Medical Incidents, Critical Medical Medical Incident, Critical Medical Incidents, Critical Critical Incidents, Medical Critical Incident, Medical Incident, Medical Critical Incidents, Medical Critical Medical Critical Incident Medical Critical Incidents Wrong-Patient Surgery Wrong-Patient Surgery Surgeries, Wrong-Patient Surgery, Wrong-Patient Wrong Patient Surgery Wrong-Patient Surgeries Never Event Never Event Event, Never Events, Never Never Events Medical Errors of Commission Medical Errors of Commission Medical Error of Commission Commission Medical Error Commission Medical Errors

Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Medical Errors".

Health Care [N]
Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services [N02]
Health Services [N02.421]
Medical Errors [N02.421.450]

Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Medical Errors".

publications

Timeline | Most Recent

This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Medical Errors" by people in this website by year, and whether "Medical Errors" was a major or minor topic of these publications.

Bar chart showing 158 publications over 28 distinct years, with a maximum of 11 publications in 2009 and 2011

To see the data from this visualization as text, click here.

Year	Major Topic	Minor Topic	Total
1996	0	1	1
1998	1	0	1
2000	5	2	7
2001	3	1	4
2002	6	1	7
2003	5	2	7
2004	1	2	3
2005	4	5	9
2006	3	2	5
2007	3	1	4
2008	2	3	5
2009	5	6	11
2010	5	1	6
2011	7	4	11
2012	4	4	8
2013	7	2	9
2014	6	3	9
2015	3	2	5
2016	6	1	7
2017	8	2	10
2018	5	1	6
2019	5	3	8
2020	1	1	2
2021	1	4	5
2022	1	2	3
2023	1	1	2
2024	0	2	2
2025	0	1	1

Below are the most recent publications written about "Medical Errors" by people in Profiles.

Martins NRS, Martinez EZ, Sim?es CM, Barach PR, Carmona MJC. Analyzing and mitigating the risks of patient harm during operating room to intensive care unit patient handoffs. Int J Qual Health Care. 2025 Jan 17; 37(1).

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Ginzberg SP, Gasior JA, Passman JE, Stein J, Keddem S, Soegaard Ballester JM, Finn CB, Myers JS, Kelz RR, Shea JA, Wachtel H. Surgeon and Surgical Trainee Experiences After Adverse Patient Events. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 06 03; 7(6):e2414329.

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Fall F, Hu YY, Walker S, Baertschiger R, Gaffar I, Saltzman D, Stylianos S, Shapiro J, Wieck M, Buchmiller T, Brandt ML, Tracy T, Heiss K, Berman L. Peer Support to Promote Surgeon Well-being: The APSA Program Experience. J Pediatr Surg. 2024 Sep; 59(9):1665-1671.

View in: PubMed
Oxman D. A Systems Approach to Reducing Medical Error. JAMA. 2023 07 18; 330(3):284.

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Li CJ, Shah YB, Harness ED, Goldberg ZN, Nash DB. Physician Burnout and Medical Errors: Exploring the Relationship, Cost, and Solutions. Am J Med Qual. 2023 Jul-Aug 01; 38(4):196-202.

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Barry JS, Swanson JR, Pearlman SA. Is medical error a crime? The impact of the State v. Vaught on patient safety. J Perinatol. 2022 09; 42(9):1271-1274.

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Jaffe R, Zavodnick J, Papanagnou D, Zhang XC, Diemer G. Patient Safety Escape Room: A Team Simulation in Recognizing and Reporting Patient Safety Hazards. Am J Med Qual. 2022 Mar-Apr 01; 37(2):166-172.

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Calem DB, Horan DP, Taylor MT, McEntee RM, Pedowitz DI, Emper WD, Ilyas AM. Use of Triggers to Detect Adverse Events After Outpatient Orthopedic Surgery at a Single Ambulatory Surgery Center. Orthopedics. 2022 Mar-Apr; 45(2):116-121.

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Guttman OT, Lazzara EH, Keebler JR, Webster KLW, Gisick LM, Baker AL. Dissecting Communication Barriers in Healthcare: A Path to Enhancing Communication Resiliency, Reliability, and Patient Safety. J Patient Saf. 2021 Dec 01; 17(8):e1465-e1471.

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Schmidt RF, Vibbert MD, Vernick CA, Mendelson AM, Harley C, Labella G, Houser J, Becher P, Simko E, Jabbour PM, Tjoumakaris SI, Gooch MR, Sharan AD, Farrell CJ, Harrop JS, Rosenwasser RH, Jaffe RC, Jallo J. Standardizing postoperative handoffs using the evidence-based IPASS framework through a multidisciplinary initiative improves handoff communication for neurosurgical patients in the neuro-intensive care unit. J Clin Neurosci. 2021 Oct; 92:67-74.

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