Treating patients is a complex process involving sophisticated technology, dangerous medicines, diverse patients, multiple work processes, and various professional disciplines experiencing an increasing level of specialization (Spath, 1999; West, 2000). Delivering health care in a wider context is even more complicated, involving governmental healthcare legislation and budgets, regulatory authorities’ control activities, and a loosely coupled system of numerous organisations. This paper studies the management of errors in this setting. By errors we mean misdiagnosis, medication errors, or erroneous processes of medical treatment in general. The aim of the study is to explore the multi-level system of managing errors in Norwegian health care and to map interfaces of importance for learning from errors.
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