Lessons from the war on cancer: the need for basic research on safety.
The author examines parallels between President Nixon's "War on Cancer" and the work of patient safety today, positing that basic research can promote success for patient safety. The author identifies three key areas of research that are needed to improve patient safety: defining the factors that influence safety, understanding how people cope with the actual dilemmas and uncertainties in the technical work of health care, and clarifying how efforts to influence safety are formulated.