Completely revised and updated this book offers a step-by-step guide for implementing the Institute of Medicine guidelines to reduce the frequency of errors in health care services and mitigate the impact of those errors that do occur. It explores the fundamental concepts and tools of error reduction, and shows how to design an effective error reduction initiative. The book pinpoints how to reduce and eliminate medical mistakes that threaten the health and safety of patients and teaches how to identify the root cause of medical errors, implement strategies for improvement, and monitor the effectiveness of these new approaches.