HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Seiden, S C Articles by Lamm, R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Seiden, S C Articles by Lamm, R Topic Collections Related Article

Role of medical students in preventing patient harm and enhancing patient safety

¹ The University of Chicago, Department of Pediatrics, Comer Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA
² Northwestern University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
³ Harvard Affiliated Emergency Residency, Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence to:
S C Seiden
University of Chicago, Department of Pediatrics, Comer Children’s Hospital, 5721 South Maryland Avenue, MC8016, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; seiden{at}uchicago.edu Background: Substantial efforts are focused on the high prevalence of patient harm due to medical errors and the mechanisms to prevent them. The potential role of the medical student as a valuable member of the team in preventing patient harm has, however, often been overlooked.

Methods: Four cases are presented from two US academic health centers in which medical students prevented or were in a position to prevent patient harm from occurring. The authors directly participated in each case.

Results: The types of harm prevented included averting non-sterile conditions, missing medications, mitigating exposure to highly contagious patients, and respecting patients’ "do not resuscitate" requests.

Conclusion: Medical students are often overlooked as valuable participants in ensuring patient safety. These cases show that medical students may be an untapped resource for medical error prevention. Medical students should be trained to recognize errors and to speak up when errors occur. Those supervising students should welcome and encourage students to actively communicate observed errors and near misses and should work to eliminate all intimidation by medical hierarchy that can prevent students from being safety advocates.

Keywords: medical students; patient safety; medical error; undergraduate medical education

Related Article

Quality Lines

David P Stevens
Qual. Saf. Health Care 2006 15: 225. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Patey, R. Flin, B. H Cuthbertson, L. MacDonald, K. Mearns, J. Cleland, and D. Williams Patient safety: helping medical students understand error in healthcare Qual. Saf. Health Care, August 1, 2007; 16(4): 256 - 259. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. A Entwistle Differing perspectives on patient involvement in patient safety Qual. Saf. Health Care, April 1, 2007; 16(2): 82 - 83. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Moskowitz, J. J. Veloski, S. K. Fields, and D. B. Nash Development and Evaluation of a 1-Day Interclerkship Program for Medical Students on Medical Errors and Patient Safety American Journal of Medical Quality, January 1, 2007; 22(1): 13 - 17. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M M Walton Hierarchies: the Berlin Wall of patient safety. Qual. Saf. Health Care, August 1, 2006; 15(4): 229 - 230. [Full Text] [PDF]