Tejal Gandhi, MD, serves as the president and CEO of the National Patient Safety Foundation and is widely recognized as a national leader of the patient safety movement.
The following are three thoughts on the future of patient safety Dr. Gandhi shared with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement for a recent blog post.
1. Leadership engagement is crucial. "Some of the biggest areas for improvement are still around culture and leadership. Culture comes from the top, so you need leadership engagement…safety won't be a priority if leadership isn't fully committed to it."
2. Focus on more than readmissions. "Safety is foundational for providing the best care across the continuum; so many safety issues pertain to transitions of care. Much of the focus has been on hospital readmissions, but just think about all the transitions between various settings — from rehab to home, or nursing home to emergency room or hospital to home health."
3. Financial pressure shouldn't be ignored. "For a long time, I felt that we shouldn't have to make the financial case for safety; making care safe for patients is just the right thing to do…I hate to think that financial pressure is what gets us going, but financial drivers can be helpful."
Read the full interview on the IHI's Safety First Blog here.