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Jurisdictional learning: When serious errors in healthcare trigger divergent responses in professional roles

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Learning from serious errors in healthcare workplaces is crucial to prevent them from reoccurring. Typically, learning from errors implies convergence where healthcare professionals arrive at shared understanding and collaborate more closely. In this research, we study how doctors and nurses learn differently after they encountered the same serious errors. Drawing on three serious untoward incidents in an NHS Hospital Trust in England, we explain responses through "jurisdictional learning." We describe how errors prompt doctors and nurses to reinterpret their tasks, responsibilities, and authority from their existing jurisdictional positions. We find that doctors respond through jurisdictional encroachment, selectively extending oversight into tasks traditionally performed by nurses. Nurses, in contrast, respond through jurisdictional fortification where they reinforce their existing tasks and responsibilities through stronger reliance on policies, guidelines, and assertiveness. Our findings contrast the predominantly convergence-based logics of interprofessional learning by showing that professional roles interpret errors through the lens of their jurisdictional position and, in response, produce divergent role-based responses to redefine tasks, responsibilities, and authority.

Source: Social Science & Medicine

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119963

Authors: John G. Richmond, Thomas Grisold, Adrian Klammer

Institutions: University of Leicester, Vienna University of Economics and Business, University of Liechtenstein

Language: English

Topic: Patient Safety and Medication Errors

Subfield: Emergency Medical Services

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,800