Learning from mistakes: factors that influence how students and residents learn from medical errors.
Investigators conducted and analyzed nearly 60 structured interviews with medical trainees and categorized the factors that influenced their learning from errors. These factors were grouped as topic areas, which included awareness of error, factors influencing learner response (eg, personality, hidden curriculum), types of responses reported (eg, emotional, cognitive), and formal teaching. The authors discuss recommendations and specific educational methods that may promote improved learning from errors for trainees. A past study discussed one of these methods, Morbidity and Mortality Conferences, as a place to discuss medical errors with an educational focus.