• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

JCAHO recommends ’systems approach’ to patient safety

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, June 16, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

The president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) testified last week before Congressional leaders that adapting a "systems approach," such as the one used in manufacturing, would lessen the effect of human error on patient safety, according to a statement issued by the JCAHO.

In his testimony to the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Dennis O'Leary, MD, JCAHO president, said healthcare must emphasize safety as a top priority and look at errors as a chance to learn and improve. Using the systems approach, healthcare could design a method of anticipating human error and preventing adverse events from reaching patients.

"The health care industry is a victim of the rapid and continuing advances in its capabilities and sophistication," O'Leary testified. " Much progress has made been in improving patient safety since the Institute of Medicine issued its report, To Err is Human, but we may actually be falling further behind as new drugs, procedures, and technologies are introduced every day. Each of these has inherent safety risks that have not been identified, and they are usually introduced into care delivery settings where patient safety and systems thinking are not constantly top of mind."

In his testimony, O'Leary outlined efforts in patient safety taken by the JCAHO, discussing the launching of the International Center for Patient Safety, the annual setting of National Patient Safety Goals, the 100,000 Lives Campaign, and JCAHO's recent public policy report, Strategies for Improving the Medical Liability System and Preventing Patient Injury.

To view O'Leary's testimony, click here.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive