Keeping Patients Safe: How Has the Patient Safety Movement Evolved in the U.S.?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-23-2020

Publication Title

Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare

First page number:

1

Last page number:

5

Abstract

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Patient Safety Network, patient safety is dened as “freedom from accidental or preventable injuries produced by medical care” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], n.d.a). The Institute of Medicine has indicated that patient safety is not dierent from quality healthcare, emphasizing it as an essential domain of the overarching healthcare quality (Erickson et al., 2003). There have been reports and studies on the large amount of deaths that happen each year due to medical errors (Donaldson et al., 2000; James, 2013; Makary & Daniel, 2016). Even though these estimates and the methodology behind calculating these deaths may be questionable, it is undeniable that adverse events are a concern that needs to be addressed (Shojania & Dixon-Woods, 2016). The issue of patient safety poses a risk to the public, thus providing motivation to providers, policymakers, and researchers to pay attention to this issue.

Keywords

Patients safe; Patient safety movement

Disciplines

Health Services Administration | Public Health

Language

English

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