Do failures in non-technical skills contribute to fatal medical accidents in Japan? A review of the 2010–2013 national accident reports

Objectives: We sought to clarify how large a proportion of fatal medical accidents can be considered to be caused by poor Non-Technical Skills, and to support development of a policy to reduce numbers of such accidents by making recommendations about possible training requirements. Design: Summaries of reports of fatal medical accidents, published by the Japan Medical Safety Research Organization, were reviewed individually. Three experienced clinicians and one patient safety expert conducted the reviews to determine the cause of death. Views of the patient safety expert were given additional weight in the overall determination. Setting: A total of 73 summary reports of fatal medical accidents were reviewed. These reports had been submitted by healthcare organisations across Japan to the Japan Medical Safety Research Organization between April 2010 and March 2013.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: The cause of death in fatal medical accidents, categorised into technical skills, n...