Hospitals that operate at or over their capacity may be at increased risk of adverse events that injure patients, according to a study led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Woman's Hospital (BWH). The report in the May issue of the journal Medical Care suggests that efforts to meet two primary challenges facing hospitals today - reducing costs and improving patient safety - may work against each other.

Medication errors appear to be common, often hidden and associated with adverse events among patients receiving outpatient care after an organ transplant, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The health care system is involved with nearly one-third of these errors.