March 10 – 16 is Patient Safety Awareness Week; an annual recognition event to grow awareness about patient safety and to recognize the work being done to reduce harm. Properly engaging patients, caregivers, and providers; integrating quality improvement practices; and collecting and interpreting data are critical to supporting patient safety initiatives.
Although there has been real progress made in patient safety over the past two decades, current estimates cite medical harm as a leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that 134 million adverse events occur each year due to unsafe care in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, resulting in some 2.6 million deaths. Additionally, some 40 percent of patients experience harm in ambulatory and primary care settings with an estimated 80 percent of these harms being preventable, according to WHO.
Some studies suggest that as many as 250,000 to 400,000 deaths occur in the United States each year as a result of errors or preventable harm. Not every case of harm results in death, yet they can cause long-term impact on the patient’s physical health, emotional health, financial well-being, or family relationships.
Investing in patient safety positively impacts health outcomes, reduces costs related to patient harm, improves system efficiency, and helps in reassuring communities and restoring
their trust in health care system. For effective, safe care, we must be able to provide care in a kind and collaborative environment. We encourage you to find ways to engage everyone in the conversation. Encourage patients and family members to be involved in the care process and ask, “How can we work together to make my care safer?” Because We Are Safer Together.
Access this Patient Safety Awareness Toolkit for its tips and guidance as well as for marketing materials to complement the promotion of safety efforts at your organization. If you are a health system, hospital, EMS agency, nursing home, home health or hospice facility, pharmacy or medical office, dentist, telehealth or any other care provider, this toolkit is for you. The materials are now available in Spanish.
Preventing harm in health care settings is a public health concern. Everyone interacts with the health care system at some point in life. And everyone has a role to play in advancing safe health care.
The Great Plains QIN team would like to thank and extend our appreciation to all the healthcare partners across the region for your dedication and commitment to quality improvement and improving patient care. Every day is Patient Safety Day and we thank you!
Webinar: Quality Counts, Safety Matters, Prioritizing Patient Safety Through Quality Measurement
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to a free webinar: Quality Counts, Safety Matters: Prioritizing Patient Safety Through Quality Measurement. The insightful session will explore how quality measures and policies are being implemented to improve the patient experience.
Objectives
- Highlight the importance of patient safety
- Share insights from health care experts on using quality measurement to drive patient safety improvements.
- Explore how CMS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) are addressing preventable harms.
There are two opportunities to attend this webinar and participate in a question-and-answer session. Please register for the event that best fits your schedule.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 | 11:00 am – 12:00 p.m. CT
Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CT