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Recent reports by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) signal a substantial yet unrealized deficit in patient safety innovation and improvement. With the aim of reducing this dilemma, we provide an introductory account of clinical error resulting from poorly designed systems by reviewing the relevant health care, management, psychology, and organizational accident sciences literature. First, we discuss the concept of health care error and describe two approaches to analyze error proliferation and causation. Next, by applying transdisciplinary evidence and knowledge to health care, we detail the attributes fundamental to constructing safer health care systems as embedded components within the complex adaptive environment. Then, the Health Care Error Proliferation Model explains the sequence of events typically leading to adverse outcomes, emphasizing the role that organizational and external cultures contribute to error identification, prevention, mitigation, and defense construction. Subsequently, we discuss the critical contribution health care leaders can make to address error as they strive to position their institution as a high reliability organization (HRO). Finally, we conclude that the future of patient safety depends on health care leaders adopting a system philosophy of error management, investigation, mitigation, and prevention. This change is accomplished when leaders apply the basic organizational accident and health care safety principles within their respective organizations.

The aim for this chapter is to better understand the dynamics of social communication processes within Second Life®. Understanding communication processes in 3D online social virtual worlds is vital in embracing contemporary social issues and improving interpersonal and organizational relationships as these environments are rapidly growing in popularity in the education sector. In this chapter, we observed an undergraduate communication class and discussed four powerful interrelated forces behind the students' communication processes: (1) gamer status; (2) avatar appearance; (3) physical proximity; and (4) virtual proximity. Our findings can inform Arts and Science educators in general and Communication instructors in particular about how learners socially communicate and interact within a 3D online social virtual world and how teachers can foster students' communication and collaboration in this environment and support their content creation and collective knowledge building.