Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

March 12–18 is Patient Safety Awareness Week. HPOE.org offers guides, tools, case studies, videos and other resources on a wide range of patient safety topics.

Several resources are featured here. Find all HPOE.org resources on patient safety by selecting “Patient Safety and Quality” under “Topic” on the menu at left. For additional AHA resources on patient safety, visit AHA.org/PSAW.

Preventing Patient Falls
This guide describes the types of risks that lead to patient falls, the root causes for those risks and the solutions designed to reduce them. Several case studies in the guide highlight individual hospitals and their experiences preventing falls. The project was led by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.

AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) 2.0 Final Report
From September 2015 to September 2016, the American Hospital Association/Health Research & Educational Trust Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) 2.0 project, a part of the Partnership for Patients campaign, worked to reduce hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and readmissions by 20 percent. Throughout the course of this one-year project, AHA/HRET HEN 2.0 hospitals prevented more than 34,000 patient incidents and saved nearly $300 million in estimated health care costs. This report discusses results of the project and plans to sustain the work.

• HEN 2.0 Storyboard Vignettes
• HRET HEN High-Performing Hospitals Video Spotlight Series

Improving Patient Safety Culture through Teamwork and Communication: TeamSTEPPS
Health care teams that communicate effectively reduce the potential for human error, resulting in enhanced patient safety and improved clinical performance. TeamSTEPPS®—Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety—is designed to improve patient safety through effective communication and teamwork skills. This guide outlines the TeamSTEPPS framework, describes teamwork tools and includes examples and case studies illustrating how hospitals and care systems are using TeamSTEPPS to improve patient safety and quality.

Partnering to Improve Quality and Safety: A Framework for Working with Patient and Family Advisors
To truly transform care, hospitals and care systems must effectively engage patients and their families. This guide presents a framework for engaging patients as advisors on quality and patient safety initiatives. Field interviews are included in the guide.

Reducing the Risks of Wrong-Site Surgery: Safety Practices from The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare Project
As part of the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare wrong-site surgery project, eight U.S. hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers measured the risks of wrong-site surgery in their perioperative processes, pinpointed the contributing causes and developed specific solutions targeted to each one. This guide describes the types of risks for wrong-site surgery, roots causes and targeted solutions and highlights case examples and case studies from hospitals and health systems.