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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Patient Safety and Risk

Near miss

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounCommon term

In healthcare management, near miss means: An error or unsafe situation that was noticed and stopped before it could reach or harm a patient.

In Turkish: ramak kala olay, ramak kala

How it is used

Reporting near misses is strongly encouraged because they show weak points in a system before anyone is hurt. Before a noun it is hyphenated: near-miss reporting, near-miss event.

Example sentences

  1. The pharmacist noticed the wrong dose before it was given, so we recorded it as a near miss.

  2. We had three near misses with similar-looking drug packages this month.

Common collocations

  • report a near miss
  • near-miss reporting
  • near-miss event
  • learn from near misses
  • adverse eventAn unintended event during healthcare that harms a patient and is caused by the care given rather than by the patient's illness.
  • incident reportA written record of an event that harmed, or could have harmed, a patient, visitor or member of staff, sent so that it can be investigated and learned from.
  • medication errorA preventable mistake in prescribing, dispensing, preparing or giving a medicine, whether or not it actually harms the patient.
  • safety cultureThe shared attitudes, beliefs and habits in an organisation that decide how openly people report errors, speak up about risks and learn from mistakes.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Patient Safety and Risk

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.