Important Patient Safety Links

2009 National Patient Safety Goals

UVA Patient Safety Program (Intranet - MC employees only)

AHRQ (The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [PSNet]) - An annotated, carefully selected compilation of the most recent and important news, research, articles, tools, and conferences in patient safety.

• Includes M&M: Mortality and Morbidity Rounds on the Web
• " Questions are the Answer " video - Encourages patients to become involved in their own care.
• QualityTools is a compilation of practical tools for assessing, measuring, promoting, and improving the quality of health care.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Hospital Compare

Institute of Medicine (IOM) Publications include reports such as To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Patient Safety: Achieving a New Standard for Care, and Report Brief. Preventing Medication Errors.

JCAHO

JCAHO Resources (JCAHO evaluates and accredits nearly 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S.)

• Sentinel Event Alerts
• Patient Safety Practices (PSP)
• One Size Does Not Fit All: Divese Populations Pose Special Health Needs A new report based on successful practices now being used in hospitals to care for diverse patients.

UVa Clinical Practice

• UVa Patient Safety Highlights (Intranet - MC Employees Only)
• Avoiding Fall Hazards
• Infection Control
• Our Medication Safety

Patient Safety Organizations

National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) works to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors, providing information about current conferences and research, links to free educational materials and an extensive searchable bibliography

National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) oversees a comprehensive safety program aimed at reducing and preventing adverse medical events. Their Falls Toolkit provides guidance on designing a falls prevention and management program and effective interventions and education strategies.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) sponsors collaboratives that link healthcare organizations in projects focused on systems improvements in safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. In 2005, IHI is launching a 100,000 Lives Campaign aimed at enlisting hospitals across the country in a commitment to implement care changes proven to prevent avoidable deaths and to save 100K lives each year.

MedWatch - FDA Medical Products Reporting and Safety Information Program with links to reporting forms, safety notifications, and sign-up for e-mail alerts.

Leapfrog Group, comprising public and private organizations representing more than 31 million health care beneficiaries, works with medical experts throughout the U.S. to identify problems and propose solutions that it believes will improve hospital systems that could break down and harm patients

American Hospital Association(AHA) represents and serves all types of hospitals, health care networks, and their patients and communities

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation

U.K. National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) coordinates efforts to report and learn from adverse events that occur in the U.K. National Health Service (NHS)

Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care leads national efforts to improve the safety and quality of health care provision in Australia

Patient Safety Journals and Books

Journals:

• Journal of Patient Safety
• Quality and Safety in Health Care
• Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
• Patient Safety in Surgery

Recent Books:

• Understanding patient safety
  Wachter, Robert M.
  RA969.9 .W3 2008
• Patient advocacy for health care quality: strategies for achieving patient-centered care
  Earp, Jo Anne L.
  R727.45.P43 2008
• Patient safety [an electronic resource]: research in practice
  Walshe, Kieran
  Internet 2006
  http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uvalib/Doc?id=10175171
• The Joint Commission guide to patient and family education, 2nd ed.
  Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
  R727.4.J65 2007
• Patient safety: essentials for health care, 4th ed.
  Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
  RA399.A3.P38 2006
• Meeting the Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals
  Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
  R729.8.M44 2007
• Engaging physicians in patient safety: a handbook for leaders
  Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
  RA969.9.E5 2006
• Strategies for building a hospitalwide culture of safety
  Frankel, Allan, M.D.
  RA969.9.S7 2006

Databases

National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) - database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines; sponsored by AHRQ in partnership with the AMA and the American Association of Health Plans (now America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP])

Ovid MEDLINE - searches the biomedical literature (selected full-text)

PubMed - freely accessible version of MEDLINE

Cochrane Library - contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform health care decision-making

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) - research-based information about effects of health care interventions. Three databases can be searched individually or simultaneously:

• Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
• NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED)
• Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA)

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) - includes statistical results of patient and health care provider surveys, mortality and morbidity statistics and more

ECRI Database of Medical Device Safety Reports - searchable for information about device-related problems by cause of incident, type of device, or clinical specialty