International Report Calls for ‘Systematic, Sector-Wide Approach’ to Patient Safety

A new report says the best way to prevent medical errors is to take an international, scientific, and multidisciplinary approach to ensuring patient safety.

The report, released by the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, stated that today’s healthcare system operates under the premise that harms are inevitable; uncoordinated, “siloed” data systems are natural; and an idea that heroism is a norm, meaning the system depends on “save-the-day actions.”

This creates a system that provides excuses for a lack of patient safety rather than making a real difference, but the right approach could turn the system around, according to the report.

“The goals of patient safety — to partner with patients, their loved ones, and all interested parties, to end preventable harm, continuously improve patient outcomes and experience, and eliminate waste in healthcare delivery — must be clearly articulated, designed throughout the healthcare sector, and woven into healthcare system operations. The end state needed to realize these goals must be envisioned, using the tools of a systems engineer,” the report stated.

While patients, providers, policymakers, and payers have all made an effort to improve patient safety, the report stated that “a systematic, sector-wide approach” is needed to make a real difference.

The WISH report said the healthcare system could learn from other industries that have embraced a comprehensive safety approach, such as the defense, auto, and mining industries.

The report also said that a number of themes need to be addressed to accomplish patient safety, including: patient safety needs to be the core value of the culture; policies need to help and not hinder safety improvements; informed decision-making comes through education; and metrics evaluate success and progress.

The report identified a number of gaps in the approach to patient safety, including:

• The need for a holistic sector-wide approach, using proven methods designed for large-scale change and tailored to the local resources and culture.
• A lack of system-integrators for each element of patient safety, which together would create an overall safety system.
• A need for risk assessment and performance reporting, including patient-reporting systems and risk-management processes.
• A lack of patient-safety regulation.
• A need for research labs to facilitate trans-disciplinary science for safety.

The WISH report identified four initial steps to address these gaps, including:

• Develop a patient-safety declaration and have nations commit to fund the effort.
• Assemble a panel of professionals to establish metrics and identify definitions for preventable patient harms.
• Work with systems engineers to help define the systems needed to improve the healthcare system.
• Organize with local groups in candidate nations to identify requirements for holistic, affordable patient-safety solutions that work for their specific culture.

The attorneys of Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC, represent patients who have been harmed by preventable medical errors in Seattle and across Washington. Schedule a free consultation by calling us or contacting us online.