Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Improve Patient Safety: Patient Safety Organization of Florida

Goal-Reduce and prevent medical errors by adopting best practices and procedures.

The Patient Safety Organization of Florida is jointly managed by the Floriday Hospital Association and the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association. The two organizations teamed with the ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving safety, quality and cost-effectiveness. Thirty hospitals, health systems and physician groups participate in PSOFlorida. Many other Florida hospitals are part of other patient safety organizations.

PSOFlorida provides an environment where hospitals and physicians may submit data on medical errors and mistakes, learn evidence-based best practices drawn from state and national patient safety data and share insights with peers. Learning and discussion is facilitated through webinars, protected websites, newsletters and research.

Results-Hospitals have reported that greater sharing and review of past events are helping them reduce the likelihood of future events. That means less chance of harm for patients as hospitals strive to eliminate preventable medical errors.