Safety Overview

Studies from The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Government Accountability Office and The Institutes of Medicine show that errors due to flaws in the way health systems are organized occur at staggering rates and impact millions of patients every year. In addition to the impact on patients, these errors cost money, adversely affect the morale of health care workers and compromise the effectiveness of the entire health care system.

An enhanced care delivery system must be built to not only learn from mistakes, but also to prevent errors from occurring. Our Patient Safety work addresses potential areas of patient harm for which there is evidence of ways to promote safety through improved health care processes and systems. Our aim is to reduce patient harm caused by system failures, improve communication across the health care continuum, and help create a health care culture in which safety becomes a top priority.

Quality Improvement Organization activities under the Patient Safety Theme will focus on several components:

• Reducing Healthcare-Associated Conditions
• Reducing Healthcare-Acquired Infections
• Reducing and Preventing Adverse Drug Events
• Quality Reporting and Improvement
• Transitions of Care
• Prevention
• Cardiovascular Health