[Field 1. Safety practices and safety indicators: Definition and terminology. French-speaking Society of Intensive Care. French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation].

In the literature, the distinction between medical errors, adverse events, complications of care and other terms related to patient safety is not well-established. Accordingly these terms are commonly interchangeable. There is consensus that common terminology and classification scheme (taxonomy) with standardisation of patient safety data would facilitate improvement in incidents reporting, tracking and analysis. In this report medical errors, adverse events, safety indicators and other terms such as preventability and safety practices are defined and submitted to the expert panel rating.