Continuing to Strive to Improve Patient Safety
Patient safety is the top priority of every caregiver. Hospitals and health systems never stop searching for ways to improve quality, performance and results for the individuals and families who entrust them with their care.
The spirit of excellence in patient service animates the AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative, launched at the end of 2023 as a national effort to reaffirm hospital and health system leadership and commitment to patient safety.
The initiative is a collaborative guiding force for caregivers nationwide, providing hospitals with tools and data to advance patient safety, offering a platform for sharing their stories of improvement with peers, and highlighting examples of applicable innovation that support, spread and sustain safety improvement.
Currently more than 1,500 hospitals have signed up to participate in the PSI, demonstrating not only their own commitment to safety improvement but their willingness to share learnings with others and reap the benefits of learning from others’ experience in return.
PSI focus areas for 2024 include fostering a culture of safety from the board room to the bedside, identifying and addressing inequities in safety, and enhancing workforce safety.
Meanwhile, AHA has released new resources to help hospitals and health systems continue to advance patient safety efforts. These include:
Quality Collective Report — The AHA this week released a new report that features learnings and best practices from AHA’s Quality Collective, a group of some of the brightest minds in health care quality leadership who convened last year to co-design strategies that not only address the current needs of the field but also shape its trajectory into the future. Their work underscores a dynamic shift in the definition of quality, with a majority acknowledging a change or evolution over the past three years. These findings underscore the transformative nature of health care organizations in responding to the evolving landscape.
Safety Speaks Podcast Series — AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative recently launched a new podcast series featuring conversations with leaders in patient safety efforts. The first podcast featured a conversation between AHA Chief Nursing Officer Robyn Begley, D.N.P., and Trinity Health Chief Safety Officer and Vice President Tom Peterson, M.D., discussing innovative solutions for patient safety. New episodes will be released throughout the summer.
Focus on Safety at AHA Leadership Summit — Our gathering July 21-23 in San Diego this year will feature a number of sessions focused on quality and patient safety. Sessions will focus on engaging boards in quality and patient safety, Age-Friendly Health Systems, and the future of patient safety and strategies for transformative change, among other topics. Watch for more insights and learnings from these sessions.
Patient safety is and will always be at the very core of what we do. If your organization has not joined the Patient Safety Initiative, you can sign up here. Participation offers access to free webinars, tools and resources, connection with peers nationwide, and the sharing of strategies to support the field’s efforts to enhance quality and safety.
Participation also reaffirms a commitment to ourselves and the patients we serve that hospitals and health systems will continue to aim for … and deliver … excellence as we strive to advance health for all.