Why Has Patient Safety Not Improved Significantly? 7 Possible Reasons

Roughly 13 years after the Institute of Medicine report "To Err is Human," healthcare has experienced little progress in improving patient safety, according to a commentary in BMJ Quality and Safety.

The authors identify several challenges of patient safety improvement and potential solutions.


Challenges
•    Low investment in patient safety
•    Short time period of intervention compared with other initiatives (e.g., curing cancer)
•    Limited existing research base
•    Limited workforce studying and testing patient safety interventions
•    Few effective patient safety interventions
•    Low or inappropriate adoption of effective interventions
•    Inadequate measure of changes in patient safety over time

Solution
•    Targeted surveillance of events targeted by effective patient safety interventions
•    In the transition to new models of healthcare delivery, occasionally conduct general chart reviews for triggers for possible harms

More Articles on Patient Safety:

Patient Safety Tool: Checklist for Healthcare Personnel Flu Immunization
Study: Hospital-Outpatient Provider Communication Alone May Not Affect Readmissions

Study: HAI Rates Increased, Mortality Dropped in Cancer Patients

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars