[Patient safety: data on the topic and ways out of the crisis]

Studies have shown for many years that the cause of errors or patient injury is in a high proportion of cases to be found under human factors. Human factors include all those factors which determine the safety and capabilities of humans especially in complex situations or systems. Up to now this topic has barely been systematically dealt with in training and there is a large deficit. Modern simulation team training with systematic use of established principles of adult education and the implementation of crisis resource management (CRM) for teams can have enormous positive effects for patient safety. The concept of CRM for increasing human reliability is, however, barely used systematically for training. Simulation team training for critical events (not for emergency cases) is barely used. Professional performance at the highest level can only be expected from teams which regularly participate in team training for critical situations. In addition to simulation training with human factors, other aspects of patient safety are also essential. The concept of high reliability organizations (HRO) could make an important contribution in the sense of a safe hospital concept and includes the collection and analysis of critical incidents (critical incident reporting system CIRS) as well as the focus on the system of patient safety instead of individual persons and errors.