A group of federal and industry safety leaders have issued an urgent call for healthcare organizations to rebuild the foundations for safe care that deteriorated during the pandemic.
The National Steering Committee for Patient Safety — a group of leaders from 27 organizations, including the CDC, CMS and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality — issued the call to action. The expert committee, created by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, shared its Declaration to Advance Patient Safety this week during the institute's Patient Safety Congress in Dallas.
The committee is urging healthcare leaders to:
- Review the 17 recommendations and strategies to improve patient safety detailed in its national action plan.
- Appoint a leader and team to evaluate their organization's current state of safety using a self-assessment tool.
- Implement strategies to strengthen their organization's safety performance and develop methods to track progress by using an implementation resource guide.
"There is a critical need for healthcare leaders to take urgent action to create, rebuild and sustain the foundations for safe care to address long-standing challenges and troubling setbacks in patient and workforce safety during the pandemic," Patricia McGaffigan, RN, vice president of the institute, said in a May 17 news release. "The national action plan provides leaders with the tools to assess the current state of their organization’s foundational safety practices and offers actionable solutions for a clear path forward."