Patient Safety

Patient safety is one of the nation's most pressing health care challenges. A 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lapses in patient safety.

There are things you can do to help yourself get safer health care. Some are as simple as making sure that when you are in the hospital your wristband has the right name on it. Other ways to reduce risks are:

• Ask questions if you have doubts or concerns. Take a relative or friend to help you ask questions and understand answers
• Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery
• Tell your health care providers about all the medicines you take, including over-the-counter drugs and dietary supplements, and any allergies or bad reactions to anesthesia
• Get a second opinion about treatment options
• Keep a copy of your own health history

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

External Resources

Brown-Spath and Associates - A leading publisher of high quality health care training resources since 1981. Topics include quality management, outcomes management, sentinel event investigation, and patient safety improvement.

MRI Safety - The Institute for Magnetic Resonance Safety, Education, and Research (IMRSER): information for healthcare providers and patients. Requires free registration.

MRI Safety - a web site that has crucial information for healthcare providers and patients.

Project IMPACT: SCCM's Critical Care Data System - Managed by Tri-Analytics, Inc., provides information to the critical care community to measure and improve patient safety and outcomes while minimizing resource utilization and costs.

Visual Healthcare - Supplier of the VisualMED CPOE software for improving patient safety and reducing medical error in hospitals.

AdviSolutions - Consulting on patient safety, quality improvement, and legal services. Includes medical device research, literature reviews, and links to related sites.

Johns Hopkins International - Provides consulting support to assist healthcare corporations, groups and individuals improve performance and streamline operations. Services include quality improvement, strategic planning, critical path and continuum of care guidelines, Joint Commission survey preparation, utilization management, patient safety and risk management.

RMF Strategies - Offers knowledge management solutions to address the problem of patient safety and manage the growing cost of risk; resources include patient safety and evidence-based risk management.

Strategic Quality Initiatives - Provides consulting services to hospitals, medical groups, and physician offices for patient safety, quality management, risk management, accreditation, and licensing survey preparation and coordination; services include program development, leadership training, and interim staffing.

Great Boards - Offers consulting services to assist executives and trustees improve effectiveness of governing boards of hospitals and health systems; resources include tools to assess quality, operational performance and patient safety.

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