Patients and healthcare professionals can work together to improve patient safety to ensure a higher quality of care, reduce medical errors, and refocus on supporting good health and well-being.

1. Healthcare Organizations Can Promote
5 WAYS
Patient Safety
Safe and
Sound

2. The Patient Safety Movement
Patient safety describes a general system
that prevents harm to patients by:
Let’s take a look at some ways you can foster patient safety
in your organization and the greater healthcare industry.
Establishing a culture that promotes
safety for health care professionals,
organizations, and patients
Eliminating errors
Learning from errors that occur

3. Maintenance is integral to the accuracy,
efficiency, and longevity of your equipment.
Equipment should be calibrated and tested at
least once a year.
Calibration requires a certified engineer.
Engineers have access to specialized testing
equipment and knowledge about national
calibration standards.
Prioritize equipment calibration, testing,
and maintenance.
When the process is over you are provided
with a calibration report and documentation
showing the results.
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4. Surveys give you an opportunity to measure safety
performance, determine strengths, and identify areas
to improve. The Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality provides free surveys for:
Medical offices
Hospitals
Surveys take 15 to 20
minutes to complete.
Pharmacies
Gauge your organization’s safety culture.
Surveys should be
administered once
every 6 to 16 months
Nursing Homes

5. PSOs provide a safe, confidential space for
healthcare providers to report information,
known as patient safety work product. Patient
safety organizations can then use this data to
perform an aggregate analysis to identify
trending issues and solutions.
Patient safety organizations were
established with the passing of the
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
Act in 2005.
Work with a patient safety organization.
PSO

6. Patient safety organizations offer eight
general patient safety activities.
Implementing efforts and initiatives
that improve patient safety and the
delivery of health care
Developing and disseminating
recommendations, protocols, and
other information that could support
better practices
Collecting and analyzing
patient safety work product
Providing feedback and
fostering a positive safety
culture
Implementing and providing
feedback for patient safety
evaluation systems
Training and hiring
qualified staff
Improving confidentiality
by updating procedures
Implementing security
measures

7. Encourage your patients to get involved.
The Speak Up program, established by the
Joint Commission, is an initiative that
encourages patients to play a more active
role in their health care.
You can find brochures, videos, posters,
and other materials for free at
jointcommission.org.
Materials can be reprinted and are
available in English and Spanish.

8. The Speak Up program encourages
patients to:
Speak up about questions
and concerns.
Pay attention.
Educate themselves.
Ask a friend or family member
to become an advocate.
Participate in all
treatment decisions.
Use a hospital, clinic, or
organization that has been
professionally evaluated.
Know their medicines.
?

9. Support your staff.
Improve communication and
efficiency by building teamwork
within your staff.
Reduce hospital shifts to under
16 consecutive hours.
Eliminate distractions, especially
during critical times, like shift
changes.
Create zones of silence around
medication preparation carts and areas
where concentration is essential.
The Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality offers
free training materials at
AHRQ.gov.

10. Patients and healthcare
professionals can work
together to improve
patient safety to ensure a
higher quality of care,
reduce medical errors,
and refocus on
supporting good health
and well-being.

11. Visit AKW Medical for calibration and
testing services in San Diego from
certified engineers as well as reliable
medical equipment. | akwmedical.com
Resources:
http://www.npsf.org/events-forums/patient-safety-awareness-week/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/
http://www.helixindia.com/image/calibrate.pdf
http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patientsafetyculture/index.html
http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patientsafetyculture/pscfaq.html
http://www.pso.ahrq.gov/
http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/Facts_Speak_Up.pdf
https://www.premierinc.com/safety/safety-share/05-07-downloads/03-ahrq-10-tips.pdf