Perfusion safety in Europe: managing risks, learning from mistakes.

There is a renewed effort in Europe to develop strategies for improving patient safety in hospital care. Nevertheless, traditional hierarchical structures, methods of teaching, and the established tendency to focus on human error rather than organisational causes in medical accidents prohibit effective problem analysis and subsequent learning from our mistakes. Changing the work environment in order to enhance safety in cardiovascular perfusion services requires new efforts in individual clinics, in national perfusion societies, and on a European level. What tools do we have at hand in our profession to alter these influences and to improve perfusion safety? How can national perfusion societies in Europe enhance improvements which extend outside national boundaries?