Over the past 20 years, has the U.S. made significant progress to improve preventable medical errors? A new special collection of articles in the American Journal of Medical Quality (AJMQ), published by SAGE Publishing, begins to answer this question by analyzing the impact these articles have had on the medical field.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) published To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, a landmark report that found tens of thousands of deaths occur every year from preventable medical errors and ushered a new era of transparency and accountability. To acknowledge the 20th anniversary of To Err is Human, AJMQ republished and reflected on 11 of their own most downloaded and cited articles from the past 20 years, discussing how each of the articles have directly impacted the safety of healthcare.

The collection "highlights key pieces of scholarship that provided guidance to clinical colleagues across the care continuum and tools to reduce error and to reduce harm," says editor-in-chief David B. Nash. "While the collection found that the country has made only modest progress toward zero harm, despite many new measures and resources devoted to the issue, "the special issue serves as a call to action for the future and highlights the role of groups like the American College of Medical Quality in achieving our long sought clinical goals."

AJMQ's collection assesses how these articles have enabled "strides to improve outcomes, communication, payment systems, teamwork training, leadership, and integration of the health system." Earlier this year, SAGE announced a new effort to better measure and celebrate research that makes impact beyond the academic community -- on policy, practice, and public life.

Read the full collection, including "The Gift of Fine China: An Appropriate 20th Anniversary Look Back," by Erica Li and David Nash in the American Journal of Medical Quality.

Source: SAGE Publishing