Author: IPRO

Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management

Authors:

  1. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  2. Department of Hygiene and Public Health Catholic University of the Sacred Heart Rome Italy
  3. The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.
  4. Italian Network for Safety in Healthcare

Implementing safety practices in healthcare saves lives and improves the quality of care: it is therefore vital to apply good clinical practices, such as the WHO surgical checklist, to adopt the most appropriate measures for the prevention of assistance-related risks, and to identify the potential ones using tools such as reporting & learning systems.

The culture of safety in the care environment and of human factors influencing it should be developed from the beginning of medical studies and in the first years of professional practice, in order to have the maximum impact on clinicians’ and nurses’ behavior. Medical errors tend to vary with the level of proficiency and experience, and this must be taken into account in adverse events prevention. Human factors assume a decisive importance in resilient organizations, and an understanding of risk control and containment is fundamental for all medical and surgical specialties.  

This open access book offers recommendations and examples of how to improve patient safety by changing practices, introducing organizational and technological innovations, and creating effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care systems, in order to spread the quality and patient safety culture among the new generation of healthcare professionals, and is intended for residents and young professionals in different clinical specialties.

Leading a Culture of-Safety: A Blueprint for Success

American College of Healthcare Executives and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)/National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) Lucian Leape Institute

Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success was developed to bridge this gap in knowledge and resources by providing chief executive officers and other health care leaders with a useful tool for assessing and advancing their organization’s culture of safety. This guide can be used to help determine the current state of an organization’s journey, inform dialogue with the board and leadership team, and help leaders set priorities.

The high-level strategies and practical tactics in the guide are divided into two levels:

  • The foundational level provides basic tactics and strategies essential for the implementation of each domain.
  • The sustaining level provides strategies for spreading and embedding a culture of safety throughout the organization.

Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety provides clear direction that health care leaders, delivery organizations, and associations can use to make significant advances toward safer care and reduced harm across the continuum of care. This resource also includes a Self-Assessment Tool & Implementation Resource Guide. Resource also includes case examples on engaging patients and families in safety.

COVID-19 Resources for Hospitalists

Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM)

Hear experiences and examples of how hospitalists and HMGs are managing their response to the clinical and practice implications of COVID-19. 

The impact of COVID-19 on the practice of hospital medicine continues to change daily. With constant clinical difficulties and questioning on how hospitalists should be incorporating emerging clinical data into daily patient interactions, SHM’s COVID Rapid Clinical Updates for Hospitalists series was created to (you are able to view webinar recordings):

  • Uncover COVID-19 -related topics of interest for hospitalists
  • Opportunity to discuss COVID-19 with peers across the nation
  • Stay up-to-date on the most recent developments in the treatment of COVID-19 patients
  • Focus on hospitalist-specific issues
  • Share clinical information and discuss its usefulness ‘on the floor’
  • Gain confidence in managing COVID-19 patients from admission through and beyond the discharge of patients
  • Explore patient cases of COVID-19

Infection Prevention 101 for Public Spaces

Ohio State University College of Education

Infection Prevention 101 for Public Spaces educates participants on how infections are spread through public spaces and provides knowledge on how to clean and disinfect to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in public spaces.

Following successful completion of this course, participants will be able to: 

  1. Understand how infections are spread in public spaces. 
  2. Describe how cleaning and disinfection can prevent the spread of infectious diseases. 
  3. Identify and use effective cleaning and disinfection practices to prevent infections. 
  4. Develop and improve a cleaning and sanitation plan for your employer to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

COVID-19 Lessons Learned (whitepaper): A Resource for Recovery

Co-authored by Deloitte & Joint Commission Resources

The whitepaper catalogues a broad array of lessons learned identified during the period of March through August 2020. These lessons learned are based on discussions with a diverse group of health care leaders; assessments of readiness/preparedness efforts across national, regional and local stakeholders; and a review of public documents. The considerations in this whitepaper include observed best practices adopted by organizations throughout the COVID-19 response. For each health care domain and associated issues, it lays out specific actions that organizations have taken to address them and provides access to guidance and tools that health care leaders can use to create and enact their own plan to address these challenges. Some of the wide array of health care domains covered in this in-depth resource include:

  • Leadership
  • Emergency readiness and crisis response
  • Infection control
  • Patient safety and high reliability
  • Communications and change management

COVID-19 Resources for Hospitals

Patient Safety Movement

  • Activate incident command systems.
  • Ensure there is an adequate supply of PPE, ventilators, and other supplies and equipment.
  • Maintain ethical standards when allocating resources.
  • Have a plan for continued surge.
  • Ensure safe staffing levels.
  • Routinely analyze your facility’s risk.
  • Embrace continuous improvement and a culture of safety.
  • Establish safe discharge practices.
  • Ensure that proper cleaning protocols are implemented.
  • Continuously involve patients, family members, and members of the general public in conversations around improvement. 
  • Create a plan to resume normal operations.
  • Take care of your people, so they can better care for patients.

The Importance of a PFAC at a Critical Access Hospital

American Institutes for Research

To motivate senior leaders at rural and critical access hospitals to create and engage Patient- and Family-Engagement Councils (or PFECs), the American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences (AIR) created a video testimonial with comments from the CEO, COO, PFEC staffer and patient representative at a critical access hospital in Truckee, CA on the benefits of a PFEC This 3.5 minute video was created as part of AIR’s Patient- and Family-Engagement efforts with the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs) in collaboration with the Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG) HIIN.

Action and Impact: What’s Your Person and Family Engagement Story?

American Institute for Research

This video was developed to showcase how Patient and Family Advisors are creating and supporting action-based quality improvement initiatives in hospitals across the country. Through first-hand stories from HIIN and hospital Patient and Family Engagement Leaders and Patient and Family Advisors, the video showcases the impact that advisors have on quality and safety.