While some improvements have been made, the healthcare industry cannot afford to relax on patient safety or quality, according to Paul Levy, former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, in a recent blog post from Not Running a Hospital.
He cites Chesley B. Sullenberger III, the US Airways pilot who landed an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in January 2009 after both engines lost power, enabling all 155 aboard to escape:
"It's important not to define safety as the absence of accidents. When we've been through a very safe period, it is easy to think it's because we are doing everything right. But it may be that we are doing some things right, but not everything. We can't relax."
Mr. Levy compares healthcare to the airline industry and other industries. "The big difference to date between healthcare and other fields is the lack of acceptance by the medical community of Sully's last point: 'We can't relax.' We are too quick to claim victory, or even progress, in the reduction of patient harm. […] With the national and state focus on cost reduction, we are in danger of having a skewed perspective about what matters."
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He cites Chesley B. Sullenberger III, the US Airways pilot who landed an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in January 2009 after both engines lost power, enabling all 155 aboard to escape:
"It's important not to define safety as the absence of accidents. When we've been through a very safe period, it is easy to think it's because we are doing everything right. But it may be that we are doing some things right, but not everything. We can't relax."
Mr. Levy compares healthcare to the airline industry and other industries. "The big difference to date between healthcare and other fields is the lack of acceptance by the medical community of Sully's last point: 'We can't relax.' We are too quick to claim victory, or even progress, in the reduction of patient harm. […] With the national and state focus on cost reduction, we are in danger of having a skewed perspective about what matters."
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