Error proofing healthcare: an analysis of low cost, easy to implement and effective solutions

This study aims to provide healthcare managers with a meaningful synthesis of state of the art knowledge on error proofing strategies. The purpose is to provide a foundation for understanding medical error prevention, to support the strategic deployment of error proofing strategies, and facilitate the development and implementation of new error proofing strategies.

A diverse panel of 40 healthcare professionals evaluated the 150 error proofing strategies presented in the AHRQ research monograph using classification systems developed by earlier researchers. Error proofing strategies were ranked based on effectiveness, cost, and ease of implementation as well as based on their aim/purpose, i.e. elimination, replacement, facilitation, detection, or mitigation of errors.

The findings of this study include prioritized lists of error proofing strategies from the AHRQ manual based on the preferred characteristics (i.e. effectiveness, cost, ease of implementation) and underlying principles (i.e. elimination, replacement, facilitation, detections mitigation of errors) associated with each strategy.

The results of this study should be considered in light of certain limitations. The sample size of 40 panelists from hospitals, medical practices, and other healthcare related companies in the Gulf Coast region of the USA prevents a stronger generalization of the findings to other groups or settings. Future studies that replicate this approach, but employ larger samples, are appropriate. Through the use of public forums and expanded sampling, it may be possible to further validate research findings in this paper and to expand and build on the results obtained in this study.

Using the error‐proofing strategies identified provides a starting point for researchers seeking to better understand the impact of error proofing on healthcare services, the quality of those services and the potential financial ramifications. Further, the results presented enhance the strategic deployment of error proofing strategies by bringing to light some of the important factors that healthcare managers should consider when implementing error proofing solutions. Most notably, healthcare managers are encouraged to implement effective solutions, rather than those that are merely inexpensive and/or easy to implement, which is more often the case.

This study provides a much‐needed forum for sharing error‐proofing strategies, their effectiveness, and their implementation.