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Patient Safety

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Medical Quality Management

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Abstract

There are a number of tools, systems, methodologies, resources, and patient safety products used to guide the implementation of safe practices. Analytic tools can provide powerful insight into the causes of a poor outcome. Understanding the causes of errors and failures is important, and using that understanding to change the process is critical to improvement. This chapter discusses several standard strategies that consistently improve the safety and reliability of processes, including reduced reliance on memory and vigilance with automation, algorithms, alarms, scheduled monitoring, and easily accessible references; improved access to information at the point of care; careful and appropriate use of protocols and checklists; simplification through reduction of unnecessary process steps and hand-offs; standardization to reduce variation; use of constraints to eliminate undesired behavior; and forcing functions to assure desired behavior.

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Additional Resources-Further Readings

    Healthcare Quality Organizations that Include Patient Safety Information:

    • The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the federal organization tasked with responsibility for improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of healthcare for all Americans and is an excellent resource for patient safety information. http://www.ahrq.gov

    • The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is dedicated to the task of improving the quality of the healthcare system. Reduction of harm and error is an important part of the IHI’s mission. http://www.ihi.org

    • The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is an excellent resource for information about safety in the medication system and pharmacy practice. http://www.ismp.org

    • The Joint Commission (TJC) provides assistance in the form of requirements for accredited healthcare organizations including annual National Patient Safety Goals. https://www.jointcommission.org/topics/patient_safety.aspx

    Specific Sources of Current Patient Safety Information

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    Author information

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Bothwell Regional Health Center, Sedalia, MO, USA

      Philip J. Fracica

    2. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA

      Elizabeth A. Fracica

    Authors
    1. Philip J. Fracica
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    2. Elizabeth A. Fracica
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    Editor information

    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

      Angelo P. Giardino

    2. Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

      Lee Ann Riesenberg

    3. Northeast Medical Group, Yale New Haven Health, Stratford, CT, USA

      Prathibha Varkey

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    Fracica, P.J., Fracica, E.A. (2021). Patient Safety. In: Giardino, A., Riesenberg, L., Varkey, P. (eds) Medical Quality Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48080-6_4

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48080-6_4

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