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Topic · Emergency Medical Services

Patient Safety and Medication Errors

Patient Safety and Medication Errors is a research topic within Emergency Medical Services. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1951. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on improving patient safety in healthcare settings, with a particular emphasis on addressing medical errors, implementing surgical safety checklists, promoting teamwork training, and cultivating a culture of safety. The research also delves into understanding adverse events, medication errors, communication breakdowns, and the incidence of adverse events to enhance healthcare quality.

  • Medical Errors
  • Patient Safety Culture
  • Surgical Safety Checklist
  • Adverse Events
  • Teamwork Training
  • Healthcare Quality
  • Safety Climate
  • Medication Errors
  • Communication Breakdowns
  • Incidence of Adverse Events
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Patient Safety and Medication Errors

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Patient Safety and Medication Errors research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.6k and 422 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.6k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 422 works
  3. 3 Brazil 388 works
  4. 4 Australia 252 works
  5. 5 India 230 works
  6. 6 China 206 works
  7. 7 Canada 177 works
  8. 8 Spain 175 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 171 works
  10. 10 Iran 162 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 41.6%United Kingdom: 11.3%Brazil: 10.4%Australia: 6.7%6 others listed: 30.0%42%largest
United States1,558 · 41.6%United Kingdom422 · 11.3%Brazil388 · 10.4%Australia252 · 6.7%6 others listed1,121 · 30.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Patient Safety and Medication Errors research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Patient Safety and Medication Errors research, followed by University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 69 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 34 works
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 33 works
  4. 4 Mayo ClinicUnited States 27 works
  5. 5 United States Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States 24 works
  6. 6 University of MichiganUnited States 23 works
  7. 7 Stanford UniversityUnited States 23 works
  8. 8 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 22 works
  9. 9 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 22 works
  10. 10 Monash UniversityAustralia 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in Patient Safety and Medication Errors?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Patient Safety and Medication Errors include David Moher, George Davey Smith and John P. A. Ioannidis.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  4. 4 Jeremy Grimshaw Canada 281k citations
  5. 5 Yousef Saleh Khader Jordan 274k citations
  6. 6 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  7. 7 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Patient Safety and Medication Errors?

The most cited paper in Patient Safety and Medication Errors is "A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population" (Alex Bernard Haynes, Thomas G. Weiser, William R. Berry et al., 2009), with 5,713 citations. Next come "Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients" (4,842) and "Incidence of Adverse Events and Negligence in Hospitalized Patients" (4,679).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population Alex Bernard Haynes, Thomas G. Weiser, William R. Berry et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 14 Jan 2009 5,713
2 Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients Jason Lazarou, Bruce H. Pomeranz, Paul Corey · JAMA 15 Apr 1998 4,842
3 Incidence of Adverse Events and Negligence in Hospitalized Patients Troyen A. Brennan, Lucian L. Leape, Nan M. Laird et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 7 Feb 1991 4,679
4 The Nature of Adverse Events in Hospitalized Patients Lucian L. Leape, Troyen A. Brennan, Nan M. Laird et al. · New England Journal of Medicine 7 Feb 1991 3,757
5 Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US Martin A. Makary, Michael G. Daniel · BMJ 3 May 2016 3,287
All 97 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Patient Safety and Medication Errors research done?

The largest centres of Patient Safety and Medication Errors research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Boston (United States), São Paulo (Brazil) and Melbourne (Australia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 109 works
  2. 2 BostonUnited States 91 works
  3. 3 São PauloBrazil 68 works
  4. 4 MelbourneAustralia 65 works
  5. 5 RiyadhSaudi Arabia 65 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 52 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 51 works
  8. 8 TehranIran 48 works
  9. 9 BaltimoreUnited States 46 works
  10. 10 TorontoCanada 46 works
See Patient Safety and Medication Errors on the map

Where is the best place to study Patient Safety and Medication Errors?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Macquarie University and University of Helsinki score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 18.32%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Macquarie UniversityYonsei UniversityUniversity of HelsinkiHarvard University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 58.712.5%4.2×69 -22.7%
2Macquarie UniversityAustralia 56.932.9%5.6×11 -24.3%
3University of HelsinkiFinland 52.029.2%3.2×12 +59.1%
4Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea 51.129.4%2.5×12 +36.4%
5University of TorontoCanada 47.612.7%3.2×34 -17.8%
6Stanford UniversityUnited States 46.99.9%3.0×23 +17.2%
7Monash UniversityAustralia 45.815.1%3.8×19 +1.7%
8Iranshahr UniversityIran 45.518.1%30.4×13 +53.3%
9Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal UniversitySaudi Arabia 45.113.2%11.3×11 +70.0%
10Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 44.510.2%4.1×33 -18.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Patient Safety and Medication Errors, country by country

Is Patient Safety and Medication Errors research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Patient Safety and Medication Errors.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Patient Safety and Medication Errors as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Patient Safety and Medication Errors0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Patient Safety and Medication Errors over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Patient Safety and Medication Errors10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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