All Content

This site provides promotional materials for an annual awareness campaign on patient safety that takes place in the autumn. The 2022 observance will be held October 24th through 28th.

Diagnostic safety is beginning to be established as a systemic, rather than solely an individual performance issue. This report recommends strategies that support systemic work toward diagnostic excellence and selected implementation stories that illustrate success. It is a part of a larger initiative devoted to the improvement of organizational and team activities in tandem with clinical processes to minimize the impact of human error on diagnosis.

Large-scale electronic health record (EHR) implementation projects encompass a myriad of problems to navigate to arrive at success. This Congressional panel explores challenges experienced during EHR implementation in the VA Health system. Panelists from the Veterans Administration, the investigator and the technology vendor involved in the program shared insights and next steps to direct improvement.

The National Quality Forum has defined 29 never events—patient safety problems that should never occur, such as wrong-site surgery and patient falls. Since 2003, Minnesota hospitals have been required to report such incidents. The 2021 report summarizes information about 508 adverse events that were reported, representing a significant increase in the year covered. Earlier reports document a fairly consistent count of adverse events. The rise reflected here is likely due to demands on staffing and care processes associated with COVID-19. Pressure ulcers and fall-related injuries were the most common incidents documented. Reports from previous years are available.

The memory of John Eisenberg, MD, continues to motivate patient safety improvement. The 2021 honorees for the award presented in Dr Eisenberg’s honor are Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, Prime Healthcare Services, Ontario, California, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, and Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH.

Burnout among health care workers negatively affects system improvement. This webinar series will highlight strategies to establish a healthy work environment that strengthens teamwork, staff engagement, and resilience. Instructors include Dr. Donald Berwick and Derek Feeley.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a recognized approach to examining failures by identifying causal factors to target improvement work. This session will build on a Patient Safety Organization's experience in conducting 450 RCAs to aid participants in leading RCAs and planning implementation strategies to address detected contributors to failure.