The JCAHO patient safety event taxonomy: a standardized terminology and classification schema for near misses and adverse events.

The rapid increase in research and publications on patient safety following the landmark Institute of Medicine report resulted in the need for a common set of definitions and terminology for patient safety concepts.  To achieve this goal, the authors developed a taxonomy based on a systematic literature review.  The taxonomy, which has been widely accepted since its publication, consists of 5 primary classifications that can be used to classify an error:  impact, type, domain, cause, and prevention or mitigation.