Use Errors With Health Care Technologies: An Inconvenient Truth

Use error is a contemporary term that denotes unintended consequences that occur during human-machine interactions; it is a neutral term regarding the cause of the error.^1,2  Formally defined, use error is a “user action or lack of action that was different from that expected by the manufacturer and caused a result that (1) was different from the result expected by the user and (2) was not caused solely by device failure and (3) did or could result in harm.”^3(p3)

In health care, users who interact with technology are professionals and nonprofessionals, including unlicensed health care personnel, patients, and families.³  All users should reasonably expect to use health care technologies without making errors that negatively affect the intended outcome.³  These technologies include automated dispensing cabinets, infusion pumps, computerized order entry, electronic health records, point-of-care testing, barcode medication administration, and patient monitoring systems, among other...