AHRQ Patient Safety Network ► Adverse outcomes: why bad things happen to good people.

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Adverse outcomes: why bad things happen to good people.

Sonnenberg A. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015;13:820-823.

This commentary provides a statistical discussion of adverse events in gastroenterology to conclude that some events are unavoidable, even with quality improvement strategies. A related commentary offers counterpoints and suggests that although some adverse events are unavoidable, many are preventable and efforts to improve safety in health care should focus on accountability, systems factors, and preventability of errors.

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