4 Steps to Improve Patient Safety

Patient Safety Awareness Week highlights what we can do to promote health care safety

March 15, 2022

Patient Safety Awareness Week, from March 13 through March 19, 2022, is intended to encourage everyone—consumers as well as health care providers—to learn more about health care safety. This annual event, organized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), is designed to create awareness about patient safety and to empower consumers to take an active role in their health care.

During this week, IHI seeks to advance important discussions locally and globally, and inspire action to improve the safety of the health care system—for patients and the workforce. IHI offers multiple resources and activities for both consumers and health care professionals.

The National Steering Committee for Patient Safety identifies four key areas to advance patient safety:

• Culture, Leadership, and Governance:  A commitment from leaders, governance bodies, and policymakers to hold safety as a core value and promote cultures of safety
• Patient and Family Engagement:  The practice of “co-designing and co-producing care with patients, families, and care partners”
• Workforce Safety:  The safety and resiliency of your workforce is a necessary precondition to patient safety
• Learning System:  Establish systems to promote widespread sharing, learning, and improvement

Helping hospitals to increase awareness about patient safety is a priority for HAP. HAP’s Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) initiative is working with small rural, critical access hospitals, as well as larger hospitals serving vulnerable populations, on reduction of all-cause harm and 30-day all cause readmissions. Hospitals have full access to a calendar of educational events, tools and resources, data analytics, and dedicated project managers designed to drive rapid improvement.

HAP also offers hospitals the voice of the patient and family through its Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC). PFAC is comprised of patients, family members, hospital caregivers, and community leaders, and serves to assist Pennsylvania hospitals in patient-centric care efforts.

For additional information regarding patient safety and quality of care work, plus patient and family engagement, contact Janette Bisbee, HAP project manager.