Provider - Patient Safety

Patient Safety - Overview & Contact Information

Patient Safety is the cornerstone for providing high quality healthcare.  In 1999, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined patient safety as “the prevention of harm to patients.”  Patient safety efforts emphasize the reporting, analysis and prevention of medical error and adverse healthcare events. 

Georgia’s Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) recognizes patient safety as a top level priority.  PHA describes the elements that support a culture of safety in healthcare organizations including a pervasive commitment to patient safety, open communication, a blame-free environment, and the importance of safety design in preventing future errors. 

Healthcare error is defined as a preventable adverse effect of care, whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient.  Factors that contribute to health care errors include:

  1. Human Factors
  2. Medical Complexity
  3. System Failures
  4. Technology in healthcare settings
  5. Health literacy

Because errors, particularly adverse events, are caused by the cumulative effects of smaller errors within organizational structures and processes of care, it makes sense to focus on systems and processes, versus individuals.  A systems approach allows you to target key strategies such as teamwork, effective communication and promoting a culture of safety. 

Safety culture can be defined as the set of values, beliefs, and norms about what’s important, what attitudes are appropriate, and how to behave when it comes to patient safety.  PHA recognizes and supports IOM’s call for hospitals to embrace the call for action and development of patient safety programs.

Patient safety initiatives include application of lessons learned from business and industry, advancing technologies, education of providers and of the public and disclosure of errors.  Success in promoting patient safety and creating a culture of safety requires the commitment of the organizational leaders and the front line staff. 

Patient safety efforts encourage patients and families to become more involved in their own care.  Patient participation in the healthcare team can lead not only to improvement in the quality of care they receive, but improvement of outcomes as well.  Customized care meets the patient’s needs and preferences along with their desires and beliefs.  This partnership and shared decision making is vital when working in such a complex environment as healthcare.  It makes sense that the higher the safety culture and patient involvement, the safer and better the quality of care. 

PHA offers support to all of its member hospitals and provides toolkits, survey tools, data analysis support, adverse event reporting, and numerous educational opportunities.  Please visit our website to view all of our program activities and reports. 

Purpose
To promote evidence-based best practices to enhance patient safety, improve care, reduce risk and prevent errors through creating a blame-free system and neutral non-punitive forum for sharing, studying, and learning from medical variances, including near misses.

Objectives

    1. Create a blame-free system and neutral non-punitive forum for sharing, studying, and learning from non-fatal errors/"near misses."
    2. Support hospitals in utilizing The Joint Commission sentinel event structure for other reportable events.
      To create an environment for accomplishment of Proposed Objectives 1 and 2.
    3. Support the use of evidence-based medicine for the purpose of identifying and sharing clinical methods that promote improved results.

Guiding Principles - The work of the committee should:

    • Recognize that the physician is ultimately responsible for medical treatment decisions
    • Support the concept that physician performance should be reviewed by physician peers
    • Promote accountability to the public
    • Be proactive and voluntary
    • Involve multiple public and private stakeholders
    • Utilize a continuous improvement rather than a punitive approach
    • Provide for a climate of trust
    • Solicit resources and buy-in to support a long term commitment
    • Develop a repository that provides for confidential peer review protected information
    • Analyze trends and identify, develop, and share best practice techniques
    • Provide educational programs

Program Scope - Add information

Contact Us - To contact PHA, please click the CONTACT US button located on the left side of our web page.

For more information: pha@gha.org
Content 2

Patient Safety Network - If you are not automatically redirected, please click here

 

For more information: pha@gha.org or contact Sue Fuller

2009 Quality & Patient Safety Award Application and Information

  • Click HERE for the 2009 application (Adobe PDF Version)
  • Click HERE for the 2009 application (Word Version)
The PHA Quality and Patient Safety Award recognizes health care organizations for achievement in reducing the risk of medical errors and improving patient safety and medical outcomes.The 2008 PATIENT SAFETY & QUALITY AWARD WINNERS have been chosen!

2008 Quality and Patient Safety Winners
Click on the hospital name to view the abstract. Click on the contact name to obtain further information about the project.

Circle of Excellence Award

This award is for hospitals that have demonstrated a sustained commitment to quality and patient safety as evidenced by not only winning a patient safety award in 2008, but also by earning three or more PHA Patient Safety Awards within the previous five years.

  • Emory Healthcare - CEO: John Fox
  • Habersham Medical Center - CEO: Richard Dwozan
  • Redmond Regional Medical Center - CEO: Brenda Waltz
  • Saint Joseph 's Hospital Atlanta - CEO: Kirk Wilson
  • St. Francis Hospital - CEO: Robert Granger

 

Critical Access Hospitals

Mountain Lakes Medical Center
Controlling Hyperglycemia in the Hospital: Revamping the Use of Subcutaneous Insulin

CEO : Rebecca Shepard
Project Leader : Lawrence Stockton

Monroe County Hospital

Implementation of a Successful Fall Prevention Program

CEO : OJ Booker
Project Leader : Christa Garner

Less Than 100 Beds

WellStar Douglas Hospital

Elimination of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP)

CEO : Gregory Simone
Project Leader: Beth Morrow, RN, MSN

Second Place:

Habersham County Medical Center

Ischemic Stroke Care

CEO : Richard Dwozan
Project Leader : Teri Newsome

Stephens County Hospital

Medication Reconciliation

CEO : Edward Gambrell
Project Leader : Tina DeBord

100 - 299 Beds

Redmond Regional Medical Center

Preventing Ventilator Associated Pneumonia in the Intensive Care Unit

CEO : Brenda Waltz
Project Leader : Terri Aaron, RN, BSN, CIC

Hughston Hospital

Reduction of Hypothermia During the Perioperative Period

CEO : Lance Duke
Project Leader : Freya Gilbert

Tie For Third Place

Piedmont Newnan Hospital

Pressure Ulcer Prevention

CEO : Michael Bass
Project Leader : Anna Ivory

Tift Regional Medical Center

Surviving Sepsis: A Team Approach

CEO : William Richardson
Project Leader : Stacey G. Beckham

Greater Than 300 Beds

Emory Crawford Long

Preventing Mediastinitis: Success with the SCIP Bundle and Evidence-Based Best Practices

CEO : Dane Peterson
Project Leader : Vicki Morelock, RN, MN, CCRN

Tie For Second Place

. St. Francis Hospital

Cardiac Catheterization Glucose Control: FMEA Team Project

CEO : Robert Granger
Project Leader : Dianna Thomas, MS, RD, CDE, BC-ADM

. WellStar Cobb Hospital

Implementation of Sepsis Bundle

CEO : Gregory Simone
Project Leader : Melissa Drain

Saint Joseph 's of Atlanta

Surgical Care Improvement Project

CEO : Kirk Wilson
Project Leader : Elaine Herda

Hospitals & Health Systems

WellStar Health System

A Big Dot Health System Aim: Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) by 50% in One Year

CEO : Gregory Simone
Project Leader : Marcia Delk, MD

Emory Healthcare

Embarking on a Journey of Culture Change Among Health Care Workers to Increase Influenza Vaccination Rates

CEO : John Fox
Project Leader : Cynthia Hall

Grady Health System
Implementing Smart Pump Technology

CEO : Michael Young
Project Leader : Debbie Vigliotti

Josh Nahum Special Achievement Award
for Infection Prevention and Control

This award was given to hospitals, on behalf of Josh's Parents, Armando and Victoria Nahum, and the Safe Care Campaign.org .  Thank you to Amanda DePalma and the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, for their support of this award .  Congratulations to the hospitals for their successful infection prevention and control initiatives.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Good Health is in YOUR Hands: A Hand Hygiene Improvement Initiative

CEO : Donna Hyland
Project Leader : Renee Watson

Emory University Hospital
Reduction of Bloodstream and Resistant Organism Infections: Success with Chlorhexidine Gluconate Daily Baths in ICUs

CEO : Robert Bachman
Project Leader : Carolyn Holder

North Fulton Regional Hospital

Hard Wiring Surgical Conscience: An Infection Prevention and Safety Project

CEO : Joe Austin
Project Leader : Kathy Young


To view previous winners, click on one of the following links:

For more information regarding the PHA Quality & Patient Safety Award, please email us at: pha@gha.org

Patient Safety - Patient Safety Organization

  • If you are not imediately redirected, click here

Patient Safety - Required Submissions

  • If you are not imediately redirected, click here

 

 

 

 

Co

mmunity Health
View PHA publications including consumer guides about Georgia's hospitals & healthcare Individual – Be part of the health care team. You, as a consumer of health care, can make a difference in your health and wellness. Find the resources you need to provide safety & promote excellence in patient care Community health information to incoporate into your hospital health planning View your survey submission status Go back to the PHA homepage Patient Safetylinks to Committees and initiatives Come together as a community to improve the health of all of your citizens.