Leadership commitment is crucial to attaining sustainable improvement in patient safety. This “Declaration to Advance Patient Safety” call-to-action shares three steps to motivate work toward implementing change to enhance safe care. First, commit to a national plan for improvement. Second, identify and empower a senior leader and team to assess an organization’s existent safety status. Third, devise plans to measure, design, implement, and support adverse event reduction initiatives.

This National Action Plan developed by the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety – a group of 27 national organizations convened by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement – provides direction for health care leaders and organizations to implement and adapt effective tactics and supportive actions to establish the recommendations laid out in the plan. Its areas of focus include culture, leadership, and governance, patient and family engagement, workforce safety and learning systems.  

Maternal care safety is challenged by operational, public health and individual provider limitations. The report outlines specific areas of concern for rural hospitals and suggests avenues for improvement. Strategies suggested using simulation to prepare staff and training on implicit bias.