Patient safety is of fundamental importance to all healthcare systems. Errors are common and patients are frequently harmed. Doctors, nurses, healthcare managers, policy makers and governments across the world are now working to improve the safety of healthcare. This book provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of this rapidly developing field. The book takes an international perspective citing research and practice from the UK, US, Europe, Australasia and other countries. The book will be valuable for clinical staff who want to understand patient safety and make their own unit safer; patient safety managers, risk managers, medical directors; policy makers seeking to understand the risks posed by their healthcare systems; students and doctors and nurses in training.