8 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6
Accountable care
Rapid and dramatic progress in
improving patient safety is possi-
ble if you achieve buy-in from
administration to the front line.
There are success stories. The Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI)
recruited more than 30 hospitals in southwestern Pennsylvania and partnered
with the CDC to systematically attack central-line associated bloodstream
infections. Together, these institutions reduced central-line infections among
intensive care unit patients by 68%. PRHI also guided the VA Pittsburgh
Healthcare System in the development of a MRSA prevention protocol that led
to an 85% reduction in post-surgical infections. The prevention protocol later
became standard practice across the national U.S. Veterans Health
Administration system.
Such breakthroughs require a culture in which all healthcare team mem-
bers feel accountable for patient safety and are empowered to speak up if
they see something that endangers those in their care. The hallmarks of such
a culture include exploring common causes of errors, implementing report-
ing systems for near-misses and adverse events, and using a standardized
safety checklist before each and every procedure. Improving your facility's
culture of safety also demands ongoing job-specific infection prevention
education and training, doggedly tracking progress, spreading best practices
far and wide, and acknowledging standout employees.
Here at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, we're committed to creating champi-
ons of safety across the continuum of care. We've trained more than 9,000 health-
care professionals across the globe on how to equip staff at every organizational
level with the resources they need to eliminate errors. We recognize and reward
employees who demonstrate innovative, exceptional performance around patient
safety and quality improvement within their departments. We also run a series of
multidisciplinary graduate student fellowship programs centered on patient safety
Why is the news that a quarter
of a million patients die each
year from preventable medical
errors met with a shrug?
