As professionals we realize the importance of patient safety, yet just fifteen years ago the Institute of Medicine brought public attention to the issue of medical errors and adverse events. We’ve since approached patient safety far more scientifically, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. Are you doing everything you can to ensure patient safety?
The National Patient Safety Foundation study, with a grant from AIG, makes eight recommendations:
- Ensure that leaders establish and sustain a safety culture
- Create centralized and coordinated oversight of patient safety
- Create a common set of safety metrics that reflect meaningful outcomes
- Increase funding for research in patient safety and implementation science
- Address safety across the entire care continuum
- Support the health care workforce
- Partner with patients and families for the safest care
- Ensure that technology is safe and optimized to improve patient safety
Download the Executive Summary
National Patient Safety Foundation. Free from Harm: Accelerating Patient Safety Improvement Fifteen Years after To Err Is Human. National Patient Safety Foundation, Boston, MA; 2015.