Quality & Patient Safety

Could a federal patient safety agency offer a solution to rising number of errors?

Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety), October 1, 2009

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety).

In the decade that has passed since the 1999 release of the Institute of Medicine’s To Err is Human, much headway has been made in terms of collecting data about medical errors and taking action in the industry to prevent those errors from occurring.
However, little has been done on a federal level to actively enforce public reporting of errors and compliance with evidence-based practice proven to reduce specific medical errors. Some members of the public are asking where the outrage is, and leading healthcare groups are recommending that the idea of a federal agency, a recommendation from To Err is Human, be revisited.
“In a not complicated way, we really would like to see a commission that has regulatory power,” says Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, CEO of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI).

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety).

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