Episode 5.0. Patient Safety

The Patient Safety Movement Foundations Midyear Planning Meeting, co-convened with the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, will take place on July 13th, 2017, at the?Inova Center for Personalized Health, inFairfax, Virginia. Get more information HERE

Medical errors have been estimated to be the third leading cause of death in the United States.¹ June is National Safety Month, so this episode is focused on Patient Safety in the hospital setting. Medical errors often result in patient harm with the most common hospital-acquired conditions being adverse medication events, pressure ulcers, falls, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.²

The term “Patient Safety” addresses concerns related to these errors, injuries, accidents, and/or infections. Industries that achieve and sustain remarkable levels of safety are considered to be “high reliability” organizations, and include commercial airlines, nuclear power, and even amusement parks.³

In contrast, hospitals and health systems are permitted to “self-police” when incidents of harm occur during healthcare delivery and have varying degrees of commitment to patient safety — commitment demonstrated by implementing known solutions to reduce these errors, injuries, accidents, and/ or infections.^2,3

My colleagues at Inova Health System are committed to improving patient safety and join me tonight to discuss three exemplar programs they are implementing to improve falls, medication errors, and improve team communication.

Tonight’s Guests include:

• Scott Betzelos, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP: VP/Chief Medical Officer, Inova Fairfax Medical Center
• Patrice Dupart, PharmD, BCPS, MHCM: Senior Director of Pharmacy, Inova Fairfax Medical Center
• Kathy Helak, MSN, RN, FACHE: Director Quality, Outcomes, and Performance Improvement, Inova Fairfax Medical Center
• Charles Murphy, MD, CPPS: Chief Patient Safety Officer, Inova Heart and Vascular Institute

Show originally aired June 26, 2017

References:

1. Makary MA, Daniel M. Medical error-the third leading cause of death in the US. BMJ. 2016;353:i2139.
2. Kavanagh KT, Saman DM, Bartel R, Westerman K. Estimating Hospital-Related Deaths Due to Medical Error: A Perspective From Patient Advocates. Journal of patient safety. 2017;13(1):1-5.
3. Chassin M, Loeb J. High reliability organizations: Getting there from here. The Milbank Quarterly. 2013. http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/Chassin_and_Loeb_0913_final.pdf. Accessed June 26, 2017.