Setting up a database of medical error in general practice: conceptual andmethodological considerations

Though common and the cause of much morbidity and health cast, medical erro r has until recently attracted little attention from primary care workers. A database that logs medical error; operating within the context of clinica l governance initiatives at the level of Primary Care Groups, could provide an appropriate framework within which to scrutinise and identify systemati c organisational features associated with risk of serious adverse events. T his paper discusses some of the key conceptual and methodological issues th at need to be resolved before such a database can be implemented in general practice and considers these deliberations in the light of the Chief Medic al Officer for England's recent report, An organisation with a memory.