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In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released “To Err Is Human,” in which they suggested that as many as 98,000 U.S. deaths annually are associated with preventable medical errors. Such a number would make preventable errors the seventh leading cause of death. Research on resident distress (i.e., quality of life [QOL], burnout, and depression) and fatigue showed that these factors contributed markedly to such errors and led to a 2008 IOM report, in which recommendations were made on lessening resident fatigue by modifying work hours.
In a prospective longitudinal cohort study, researchers sought to determine if distress (independent of fatigue) was associated with self-perceived medical errors in house staff at Mayo Clinic Rochester from…