Quality & Patient Safety

WHO's "High 5s" Project to improve patient safety

Patient Safety Monitor: Global Edition, November 13, 2007

Health leaders from six countries recently met in Washington, D.C. to sign off on a project intended to help improve global patient safety, according to a Joint Commission press release.

Leaders from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States signed a letter of intent to support the World Health Organization (WHO) Action on Patient Safety Initiative, commonly known as the High 5s Project. The project seeks to improve patient safety around the world by developing and implementing five standardized operating protocols, which according to the release, address the following topics:

  • Management of concentrated injectable medicines
  • Medication accuracy at transitions in care
  • Communication during patient care handoffs
  • Correct procedure and body site surgery
  • Prevention of healthcare-associated infections, specifically with hand hygiene compliance

High 5s will be implemented in late summer 2008, and the impact of the project will be assessed over five years. Volunteer hospitals involved in the initiative will communicate their experiences through an electronic learning community.

To read the release, please click here.

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