George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health has published a guide to preventable harm issues in healthcare. The guide includes common types of preventable harm, its costs, prevention tips and resources.
According to the Milken Institute's guide, some of the most common types of preventable harm — or harm due to mistakes — include hospital-acquired infections, surgical errors and wrong-site surgeries, medication errors, in-hospital injuries, misdiagnoses and blood clots.
The guide also offers information on 10 organizations that are either beacons of patient safety or offer tips on how to become one. They include:
1. National Patient Safety Foundation. A nonprofit patient safety advocacy group and the organizers of Patient Safety Awareness Week.
2. Synensis. A patient safety consulting company that works with the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
3. Patient Safety Movement. An organization that calls on hospitals, physicians and medical device companies to pledge to reduce preventable harm.
4. National Quality Forum. A nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that endorsed the implementation of 26 patient safety measures related to medical errors in 2012.
5. Patient Safety America. A patient safety organization that advocates for a National Hospitalized Patient Bill of Rights.
6. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A medical center that models excellent hospital transparency regarding preventable harm issues.
7. Hospital Safety Score. The Leapfrog Group's scoring tools that allows patients and families to review a hospital's safety practices and compliance.
8. Partnerships for Patients. A CMS-led collaborative effort between health providers and federal and state governments to improve hospital safety.
9. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. A foundation whose grants support projects that eliminate preventable harms and unnecessary healthcare costs.
10. IHI Global Trigger Tool. A research tool that allows people to identify and analyze triggers and clues that are associated with the overall level of harm within healthcare organizations.
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