Improving patient safety by taking systems seriously.

Stephen M. Shortell; Sara J. Singer

Commentary

Improving patient safety by taking systems seriously.

February 1, 2011

Shortell SM, Singer SJ. JAMA. 2008;299(4):445-447.

View more articles from the same authors.

The authors advocate that systems thinking needs to be applied more robustly in health care in order to achieve lasting safety improvements.

PubMed citation

Available at

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Impact of participation in the California Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention Initiative on adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices for patient safety and health care–associated infection rates in a cohort of acute care general hospitals.

April 17, 2013

The top patient safety strategies that can be encouraged for adoption now.

March 13, 2013

Advancing the science of patient safety.

September 20, 2011

Quality improvement implementation and hospital performance on patient safety indicators.

June 28, 2010

Narrative feedback from OR personnel about the safety of their surgical practice before and after a surgical safety checklist intervention.

September 24, 2017

Family safety reporting in medically complex children: parent, staff, and leader perspectives.

July 6, 2022

Improving patient care through leadership engagement with frontline staff: a Department of Veterans Affairs case study.

September 9, 2013

Identifying organizational cultures that promote patient safety.

November 18, 2009

Comparing safety climate between two populations of hospitals in the United States.

October 14, 2009

Recruitment of hospitals for a safety climate study: facilitators and barriers.

January 10, 2017

Related Resources

Patient Safety Innovations

Ambulatory Safety Nets to Reduce Missed and Delayed Diagnoses of Cancer

July 31, 2023

Annual Perspective

Improving Diagnostic Safety and Quality

April 26, 2023

High-Performance Work Systems in Health Care Management: Parts 1-5.

October 4, 2020

Safer Hospital Care: Strategies for Continuous Innovation, Second Edition.

May 16, 2019

Improving the Health Care Work Environment.

January 22, 2017

Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine.

December 9, 2014

External Inquiry into the adverse incident that occurred at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, 4th January 2001.

June 18, 2013

Medical Errors and Safety Systems.

September 1, 2010

Patient Safety and Quality.

March 3, 2010

A long way to go.

December 16, 2009

See More About The Topic

Health Care Executives and Administrators

Quality Improvement Strategies

Human Factors Engineering

Culture of Safety

Improving patient safety by taking systems seriously.

Ambulatory Safety Nets to Reduce Missed and Delayed Diagnoses of Cancer

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Improving patient safety by taking systems seriously.

Ambulatory Safety Nets to Reduce Missed and Delayed Diagnoses of Cancer

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site

Submit Your Training

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Training

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

New Users to the PSNet site

Submit Your Toolkit

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Toolkit

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

New Users to the PSNet site

Submit Your WebM&M Case

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your WebM&M Case

Continue as a Guest

Already have a PSNet

Account?

New Users