Lesson plan
Never event
In medicine, a never event is the "kind of mistake (medical error) that should never happen". According to the Leapfrog Group never events are defined as "adverse events that are serious, largely preventable, and of concern to both the public and health care providers for the purpose of public accountability." A 2012 study reported there may be as many as 1,500 instances of one never event, a retained foreign object, per year in the United States. The same study suggests an estimated total of surgical mistakes at just over 4,000 per year in the United States, but these statistics are extrapolations from small samples rather than actual event counts.
Article summary
In medicine, a never event is the "kind of mistake (medical error) that should never happen". According to the Leapfrog Group never events are defined as "adverse events that are serious, largely preventable, and of concern to both the public and health care providers for the purpose of public accountability." A 2012 study reported there may be as many as 1,500 instances of one never event, a retained foreign object, per year in the United States. The same study suggests an estimated total of surgical mistakes at just over 4,000 per year in the United States, but these statistics are extrapolations from small samples rather than actual event counts.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.