The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are one of the major methods by which The Joint Commission establishes standards for ensuring patient safety in all health care settings. In order to ensure health care facilities focus on preventing major sources of patient harm, The Joint Commission regularly revises the NPSGs based on their impact, cost, and effectiveness. Major focus areas include promoting surgical safety and preventing hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, inpatient suicide, and specific clinical harms such as falls and pressure ulcers. The 2023 goals, which include a goal to improve health equity, are now available.

Warfarin and other anticoagulants are high-alert medications that, if errors occur in their use, can result in considerable harm. This document advocates that a stewardship approach be applied to anticoagulant therapy to reduce the risk of adverse events and discusses steps to implement and sustain a program to guide the safe, effective use of anticoagulants.