In This Issue of Archives of Internal Medicine

C ollecting data on medical errors is essential for improving patient safety, but factors affecting error reporting by physicians are poorly understood. Kaldjian et al surveyed 338 faculty and resident physicians in different regions of the United States and found that most respondents would likely report a hypothetical error resulting in minor (73%) or major (92%) harm to a patient. However, few of these physicians had ever reported an actual minor (18%) or major (4%) error, and only 55% knew how to report errors. Physicians were more likely to report hypothetical errors if they believed reporting improves the quality of care, knew how to report errors, believed in forgiveness, or were faculty physicians (compared with residents).