Evaluation of error in medicine: Application of a public health model

A case of a chest tube placed on the wrong side during a trauma resuscitati on in the emergency department is presented as an example of medical injury . Two traditional models, the legal model and the managerial model, are des cribed and their application to medical injury discussed. A new public heal th model is then applied to the case example as a more effective way to add ress medical injury. The public health model addresses the injury event rat her than the error itself using Haddon's matrix as a framework. Pre-event, event, and post-event phases are examined to find the weakest link, where i ntervention has the highest likelihood of successfully preventing future in juries.