We contribute to the assurance of safety and improvement of quality in medical care through the analysis and dissemination of findings useful for the establishment of appropriate measures for accident prevention by means of information collection, verification, investigation, and training activities for prevention of medical accidents stipulated in Article 6-10 of the Medical Care Act based on expertise, neutrality, fairness, and transparency.
Date founded: April 1, 2010
Fumimaro Takaku
Chairman of the Board
The Medical Accidents Investigation System became effective in October 2015. The necessity of this system has been highlighted from the perspective of not only family members of those who lost their lives in unfortunate accidents of medical care, but also medical professionals and the society. However, the establishment of this system required adequate time.
The causes of medical accidents that could occur in medical care, which continue to multiply, and become complex and subject to the aging society, involve various issues specific to medical care, including its uncertain nature and difficulty in establishing a system to prevent errors by individual persons. Under these circumstances, it gradually became clear that the perception that the basic idea of investigation in medical accidents is in determining where responsibility lies and punishing those responsible not only failed to clarify the essential cause but also failed to lead to learning from the accident and implementing measures to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future. This was believed to be the reason why experience and time was required for the approval of this system. As a result, we may have been able to identify a new basic idea of investigation in medical accidents, which is to clarify the cause of the accident and to link the findings to the prevention of recurring accidents.
The current revision of the Medical Care Act saw the establishment of the “Medical Accidents Investigation System,” which will be effective from October this year. Within this system, the Japan Medical Safety Research Organization was designated as the “Medical Accident Investigation and Support Center” by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. It is the responsibility of all those involved in this system to ensure that it is implemented by focusing on investigating accidents in hospitals. The Japan Medical Safety Research Organization will make the best effort to appropriately implement and offer assurance of operations stipulated in the revised the Medical Care Act.
We request your continued cooperation and guidance.
October 2015
Fumimaro Takaku
Chairman of the Board
Japan Medical Safety Research Organization