This comprehensive 2.0-hour Continuing Education course provides healthcare professionals with an evidence-based framework for mitigating medical errors and enhancing patient safety. The course critically reviews the causative factors underlying adverse events, encompassing systemic inefficiencies, poor communication, and cognitive biases. Emphasis is placed on adopting international best practices, including safe surgery checklists and shift work optimization, alongside mandated reporting and root cause analysis protocols essential for high-reliability organizations.

120 minutes 2.0 CE Credits
$17 /Seat

This 2.0-hour Continuing Education course is designed for all healthcare professionals involved in patient care. Recognizing the significant morbidity and mortality caused by medical errors, the course offers a critical review of common causative factors and explores evidence-based strategies to enhance patient safety and system performance.

Course Objectives:

  • Discuss the impact of medical errors on the US healthcare system (patients, providers, managers, policymakers).

  • Explore the evolution of patient safety and medical error prevention initiatives in the United States.

  • Define the spectrum of medical errors and differentiate them from non-preventable adverse outcomes.

  • Recognize common high-risk situations: shift sign-out, prolonged duty hours, staffing shortages, medication administration, and patient boarding.

  • Describe common error categories: medication errors, patient falls, and specific errors related to diagnoses in various specialties (gastroenterology, neurology, cardiology, oncology, infectious diseases and more).

  • Describe the causes of medication prescribing and administration errors, and outline strategies to reduce their incidence.

  • List international best practices related to safe surgery, including checklists and pre-procedure time-outs.

  • Recognize and respond to the critical diagnosis of spinal cord compression.

  • Explore the causative factors behind medical errors: negligence, poor communication, fatigue, system inefficiencies, cognitive biases, and technology.

  • List regulatory and legal consequences associated with medical errors (fines, licensure actions, and malpractice litigation).

  • Outline prevention strategies: team-based approaches, standardization, shift work optimization, and cognitive training.

  • List patient safety goals and standards described by CMS and the Joint Commission.

  • Understand approaches to dealing with errors: reporting requirements, patient disclosure, and root cause analysis.

Key Advantages:

  • Fulfills professional requirements for 2.0 hours of Continuing Education and aligns with specific Medical Error Prevention course requirements mandated by numerous professional boards, including the Florida Board of Medicine, Florida Board of Nursing, and more.

  • Provides evidence-based methods for reducing system inefficiencies and human factors in clinical practice.

  • Equips professionals with tools for mandated reporting and Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

  • Clarifies legal and regulatory consequences, equipping professionals with strategies to manage and mitigate organizational and personal risk exposure.

Format: On-demand, accessible across desktop and mobile devices, audio-visual.

Accreditation: ACCME AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™